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SCRIPTURAL VIEW 



OF THE 



CHARACTER, CAUSES, AND ENDS 



OF THE 



PRESENT WAR. 






SCRIPTURAL VIEW 



OF THE 



CHARACTER, CAUSES, AND ENDS 



OF 



THE PRESENT WAR. 



— — SXVW- 



BY ALEXANDER M'LEOD, D. D. 

I'ASTOR OF THE REFORM BD I'RI SBYTERIAN CHURCH, 
NEW-YORK. 

— -v%w»- 



1 Hearken to me; I also will show mine opinion " Ei ihl 
• Hear ye the rod, and who hath appuuled it" Micai 



>MSi#40M« 



NEW-YORK: 

PUBLISHED BY EASTBURN, KIRK AND CO.; WHITING ANB 
W1T90N; AND SMITH AND FORMAN. 

Pavl % Thomas, Printers 
1815. 









■ UT 



.M/fe 



By transfer 

otC 30 1915 



B F 



District ofJYtw- fork, ss. 

J E IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twentieth day of January, in the Thirty-ninth 
year of the Independence of the United States of America, Alexander M'Leod, 
of the said district, has deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof he 
claims as Author, in the words following, to wit : 

" A Scriptural View of the Character, Canons, and Ends of the Present War, by Alexander 
M'Leod, D D. Pastor of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, New-York. 
' " Hearken unto me ; I also will show mine opinion." Elihu. 
' " Hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it. Micah.' " 

In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, entitled " an Act for the en- 
couragement of I.earnins, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books to the 
authors and proprietors of such copies, during the time therein mentioned." And also to 
an Act, entitled, " an Act, supplementary to an Act, entitled an Act for the encourage- 
ment of learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books to the authors and 
proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned, and extending the benefits 
thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints " 

THERON RUDD, 
Clerk of the Southern District of New- York 



PREFACE 



.IN a free country, it is the privilege of the subject 
to examine, and to judge the measures of the go- 
vernment. Where every man is upon the footing of 
equal rights with another, the rulers are the servants 
of the public; their personal qualities, and their of- 
ficial conduct, are of course proper objects of ani- 
madversion. If magistrates are found deficient in 
talents or integrity, they are unfit for their station 
and if their official deportment should prove inju- 
rious to the commonwealth, the end of their eleva- 
tion is not answered, and they should, of course, be 
dismissed from their employment by the people over 
whom they unworthily rule. In this country, the 
right of examining the merit of men in office, and of 
candidates for power, is fully enjoyed. The press 
is free ; and any one, who chooses to be at the trou- 
ble or expense, may publish his opinions, as well as 
freely express them in the circle of his private 
friends. As this liberty is universal, no man has a 
right to complain of its enjoyment or exercise by 
another. For the manner, indeed, in which a per_ 
son sees proper either to speak or to write, he is 
amenable, according to the laws of courtesy and of 
equity, to the proper tribunals in civilized life. The 



VI PREFACE. 

same liberty which guarantees a fair hearing to the 
opponents of the measures of administration, se- 
cures a similar right to those who undertake their 
vindication. Let the parties contend in the strife of 
reason ; and truth, upon an equal footing with error, 
must prevail. 

I have exercised, in the discourses now laid before 
the public, this privilege of a freeman. / have be- 
lieved, therefore have I spoken. If the tendency of 
my publication, is to support the present administra- 
tion of the government, the work ought not to be 
condemned merely on that account. I am ready to 
acknowledge that a great part of my most intimate 
literary friends, are in opposition ; but this consi- 
deration does not, in the least degree, affect my con- 
victions of truth and righteousness. Against the pre- 
sent war, much of that opposition has been directed. 
I have perceived, grafted upon the strife for place 
and power, errors which required correction : and, 
it is for this purpose, more than for the sake of serv- 
ing the rulers of the land, that I have taken up the 
subject. Had I thought much less of the men, who 
hold the sceptre, than 1 do, I would have thought and 
spoken of the cause of my country, precisely as f 
have done. 

These sermons were addressed to christians, from 
the pulpit ; and for their use, they are principally 
intended, when issued from the press. Several re- 
spectable ministers of religion, took an early stand 
against the measures of government ; and denounced. 



tREFACE. Til 



as cruel, and unprovoked, and unjust, the present 
appeal to arms. These opinions remained long be- 
fore the public without contradiction ; and it ap- 
peared, from the activity of their authors, and the 
silence of others, as if they were incapable of re- 
futation. It was becoming a general opinion, that 
the clergy and the church weie, on the great ques- 
tion between the United States and England, upon 
the side of the enemy. Many pious people were 
discouraged ; their personal exertions, and their 
prayers, were affected by this fact : and even, when 
our own city was under the apprehension of imme- 
diate invasion, so great was the force of prejudice, 
that many men of intelligent piety doubted, whe- 
ther they could join together in prayer, for courage 
to our warriors, and success to our armaments, in 
order to procure a speedy, an honourable, and a per- 
manent peace. I beheld with alarm, the extent of 
the evil of party spirit. I viewed it as a judgment 
from the Lord ; and I became fearful that the clouds 
of his indignation must thicken around us — that, 
the hand of the enemy, and a long continuance of 
calamity would become necessary in divine Pro- 
vidence to effect the unanimity, without which, 1 
am still apprehensive, we shall not succeed in put- 
ting an end to the contest. I am persuaded, that it 
requires no more than a display of unammii \ in 
resisting aggression, to procure at any time an 
honourable peace. While the enemy expects to di- 
vide, why should he seek to conciliate ? 

The principles which I have laid down, and en- 
forced in these sermons, arc not, however, of mere 



Vlll PREFACE. 

temporary interest. Whether in peace, or at war, 
they are of importance to a christian community. 
They are the permanent principles of social order 
and public equity. If the work contained a sin- 
gle sentiment of irreligious or immoral tendency, 
I would cheerfully consign it to the flames. I 
love mankind, I love the country of my choice, I 
love the saints; and I desire to promote the best 
interests of true religion and of civil liberty, be- 
cause I love my God. 

New- York, Jan. 20, 1815. 



DISCOURSES, ftc. 



-V-.W.- 



SERMON I. 

Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee 
away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread 
and prophesy there : but prophesy not any more at 
Bethel ; for it is the king's chapel, and it is the 
Icing's court. Then answered Amos, ami said to 
Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a pro- 
phet's son; but 1 was an hcrdman, and a gatherer 
of sycamore-fruit : and the Lord took me as I fol- 
lowed the flock ; and the Lord said unto me, Go, 
prophesy unto my people Israel. Now, therefore, 
hear thou the word of the Lord. Amos vii. 12 — 16. 

A HE subject, which I propose for discussion in a 
series of discourses to be delivered on this hour of 
the Lord's day, lias always been considered as ly- 
ing out of the common routine of pulpit exhibition; 
and has moreover, by some, been viewed as altoge- 
ther without the field in which ministers are appoint- 
ed to labour. I, of course, at the commencement of 
my remarks on the present state of our public af- 
fairs, anticipate from a judicious audience the ques- 
tion once addressed to our Saviour, although I am 

2 . 



10 THE RIGHT OF DISCUSSING 

confident it will be proposed in quite a different 
spirit from that which influenced the Jewish rulers, 
by what authority doest thou these things ? and rvho 
gave thee this authority ?* 

It is a wide space, Christians, that separates the 
line of conduct, which would subject the public mi- 
nistry of the church to the opinions of men, from 
that, which treats with contempt the sentiments of a 
respectable part of the community. Virtus est me- 
dium vitiorum.i Though I will not be deterred by 
popular opinion, from prosecuting this subject, I 
feel it my duty to treat with tenderness, and even 
respect, the prejudices of valuable men. Th.ere- 
fore do I preface a discussion which may in a cer- 
tain sense be termed political, with an exhibition of 
the authority under which, in trfis instance, I act. 
Far be it from me to assert the right of enslaving 
the minds of my hearers into passive obedience to 
sacerdotal claims; nor shall 1 insult an audience, 
which ought to be endowed with christian discern- 
ment, by an effort at brow-beating the most, humble 
of my fellow-men. My apology is found in the words 
of Amos the prophet. 

Some explanation is necessary to comprehend the 
object of my text. The writer was a native of Te- 
koa, a small town adjacent to the wilderness of Ju- 
dah. Here he passed his early years, in attending 
bis flocks, and in gathering, in its season, the Egyp- 

* Mark xi. 28. + Cicero- 



PUBLIC AFFAIRS. It 

ifcian fig, commonly called sycamore-fruit. In this 
pastoral life, Amos, pious and intelligent, enjoyed 
that happy simplicity which is unembarrassed by the 
fastidious distinctions of more polished society. He 
did not belong to the regularly authorized instruc- 
ted of the church, nor was he educated in their theo- 
logical schools, neither a prophet nor a prophet's son 3 
but, before he entered upon his public work, lie had 
more than an equivalent for systematic study, and 
ordinary induction into oifice : he was divinely called 
and qualified by inspiration, for an extraordinary 
mission to the apostatizing tribes of Israel. He was 
called to the prophetic office when the kingdom of 
the ten tribes waa in its utmost splendour and pow- 
er, under the second Jeroboam, upwards of one 
hundred and fifty years after its erection under the 
first king of the same name. 

The throne of Israel had been removed to Sama- 
ria; but still the king maintained a court and a pa- 
lace, as well as a royal chapel at Bethel, a city bor- 
dering upon the kingdom of Judah, and in which 
the first Jeroboam had established the worship of 
the golden calf for the purpose of preventing the 
Israelites from returning to the altar at Jerusalem. 
That very successful insurgent, a despiser himself of 
the worship of the true God, was an observer of human 
nature and of human prejudices, and well understood 
the importance of some form of religion, (whether 
true or false was to him immaterial,) as an engine of 
state policy : and he made no scruples to employ it 



12 THE RIGHT OF DISCUSSING 

as such. His successors upon the throne, appre- 
ciated his policy and imitated his example. Bethel, 
revered by all the tribes as the scene of the remark- 
able vision of their father Jacob, was still continued 
as a principal place of devotion, and decorated with 
a royal court, an opulent hierarchy, and a splendid 
superstition. 

When Amos the prophet visited, by divine direc- 
tion, this city, Amaziah was at the head of the reli- 
gion established by law, and in great favour with the 
court and the king. Resenting the freedom with 
which the minister of the Lord touched upon the af- 
fairs of state, Amaziah accused Amos of treason 
against Jeroboam, and ordered him out of the king- 
dom. The whole case is represented in this chapter 
from the 8th verse. 

Amos had denounced both the religion and go- 
vernment of Israel, and predicted their downfal, 
verse 9. The sanctuaries of Israel shall be lead waste, 
and I will rise eigainst the house of Jeroboeim with the 
sword. 

The chief priest of the prevalent idolatry was 
alarmed at this uncourtly interference with the claims 
of majesty, and became himself the informer, verse 
10. Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent to Jero- 
boam the king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired 
against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the 
land is not able to bear all his words. 



PUBLIC AFFAIRS. 



13 



Whether authorized by the king or not, Amaziah 
proceeds to forbid the prophet to preach any more 
such doctrine at Bethel : for it is the king's court : 
verse 12. Amos disregarded the injunction, and 
boldly addressing himself to Amaziah, said, verse 10, 
Nojv, therefore, hear thou the word of the Lord. 

Here, then, we have the example of an inspired 
man for introducing, in public, topics of discussion 
which have a political bearing, together with the re- 
monstrance of Amaziah against the practice. We 
venture to follow the prophet of the Lord. Nor is 
this a solitary example of the kind. Moses, Samuel, 
Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah, Daniel, Paul, and John: 
yea, all the prophets of Clod, hesitated not to apply 
their doctrine to political persons and events, when- 
soever a proper occasion presented itself. 

in my humble opinion, the present condition of our 
city and our land is such an occasion. It forces 
upon our attention a practical question, which we 
cannot entirely evade. However this war may have 
originated, it is a fact that it exists, and that we feel 
its pressure. This city is threatened, and many part- 
of our country are already invaded by a powerful 
foe. Our husbandmen are called off from the culti- 
vation of their fields, and our fellow-citizens from 
their several occupations, in order to be trained to 
arms, and at the risk of their lives to defend their 
homes. Our sons, our brothers, and our fathers, our 
brethren in Christ, who have sat down with us at the 
table, in order to partake with us in the solemnities 



14 THE RIGHT OF DISCUSSING 

of our holy religion, sleep on the tented field, watch 
at their posts by night, or march to the cannon's 
mouth, acting their part in the present contest. And 
does not this state of things present to christians a 
practical question ? Is it possible that it should not 
affect the conscience of every disciple of our Lord 
Jesus Christ? 

Shall we, who are yet permitted to meet together 
in the temple, accompany our brethren who march 
to the battle with prayers for their success, and 
welcome the survivors upon their return home, both 
to our affections and to the place which they occu- 
pied among the saints ; or shall we now withhold 
from them, while they brave the danger, both our 
sympathy and our prayers for success ; and after- 
wards refuse to acknowledge them as regular mem- 
bers of the church of God, or expel them from her 
communion as men who have unworthily hired them- 
selves to shed innocent blood in an unjust war ? If 
this war be absolutely unrighteous, then is it not only 
criminal to support it; but also those who do sup- 
port it, are guilty of blood, and censurable as such 
before the church. 

I might justify myself, of course, for considering 
this subject, under existing circumstances, upon the 
ground of ecclesiastical order; but, I choose rather 
to rest my right of introducing it into the pulpit 
upon a broader basis. With this view, 1 submit thr 
following proposition. 



PDBLIC AFFAIRS. 1$ 

Ministers have the right of discussing from the pul- 
pit those political questions which affect christian mo- 
rals. 

I prove this right — and remove objections. 

I. Prove that we have such right. 

The object to be accomplished by our ministry — 
The scriptural history — The system of sacred pre- 
diction — And the precepts which we are commis- 
sioned to expound, are the sources of argumentation 
to which I refer you in proof of this claim of 
right. 

1. The object of our ministry is, nowhere, more 
summarily expressed than in the words of our Sa- 
viour in granting, immediately before his ascension 
into heaven, the apostolical commission, Matth*. 28. 
19. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations. The word, 
in the original, which we render teach,* signifies 
more than the diffusion of knowledge. It conveys 
the idea of forming disciples; and of course includes 
all that instruction in righteousness, which belongs to 
christians. 

It is impossible without perversion of language to 
exclude from such instruction every thing which has 
a political bearing. Ministers are authorized to go 
throughout the world, and thus instruct all nations 

" MtiB-nlsve-xJe. 



16 THE RIGHT OF DISCUSSING 

upon the face of the earth ; and the object of their 
ministry cannot be said to be completely accom- 
plished until nations, as such, shall have submitted to 
the rule of righteousness. Individuals, indeed, may 
be converted, and edified, and glorified; churches 
may be organized, and enlarged, and comforted ; and 
even bodies politic may experience some advan- 
tage from the christian religion : in all these instan- 
ces the honour of the Deity is promoted on earth ; 
but the object of the ministry of the word of God is 
not fully answered unless the earth be filled with the 
knowledge of the glory of the Lord, and all nations 
made to feel the influence of Christianity. If reli- 
gion is of any use in this world, or in the world to 
come, it is useful for man, in every relation of life : 
and certainly, no christian, who seriously considers 
the value of religion, to know, and love, and serve 
God, by obeying in every situation his command- 
ments, can continue to doubt the propriety of acting 
religiously in the important concerns of civil life. 
From the obligations of the word of God, no man U 
exempt. Directions are addressed to the military as 
well as to the clergy.* It is unreasonable then, to 
deprive the ministers of religion of the right of 
speaking upon any subject whatever, that has respect 
to sin and duty, or that affects the moral conduct of 
men and of nations. How shall we ever realize 
the hope inspired by these assertions, righteousness 
exalteth a nation — The kingdoms of this world art 
become the kingdoms of our Lord, if christian di- 

* Luke in. 1 4. 



PUBLIC AFFAIRS. 17 

vines have no right to apply the principles of re- 
vealed religion to the concerns of political life ? 

2. The scriptural history cannot be explained 
or applied without touching on political topics. 
The sacred writers treated of the political concerns 
of their own, and of preceding ages, and have set 
us the example. Deny us the right of expressing 
political sentiments, and of remarking upon national 
conduct and event?, and a great part of the sacred 
volume will necessarily remain unexplained be- 
fore our eyes, and comparatively useless. Every 
man, who believes in the providence of God, will 
admit that, all true history is worthy of attention as 
a developement of the divine government over hu- 
man affairs ; as an exposition of the principles of hu- 
man action ; and as a record of facts and events use- 
ful for the direction of our conduct in every situa- 
tion of life: and shall we not be permitted to avail 
ourselves of such aid in the instruction of the seve- 
ral ranks of our bearers ? We are assured, by the in- 
spired writers, that national concerns are made sub- 
ordinate to the interests of true religion : and, it is 
obvious to all, that there is an intimate connexion 
between political events, and the interests of the 
christian church. Where, then, is the propriety of 
sealing up our lips, that we may not speak of the di- 
vine providence, or point out the agency of our 
Saviour in overruling, for the good of Zion, the 
changes which take place among the nations of the 
earth ? 

3 



J 8 THE RIGHT OF DISCUSSING 

3. The prophecies of scripture can never be ex- 
plained without political discussion. 

The prospective history contained in the bible, as 
well as the narration of past events, interweaves the 
story of the rise and fall of empire, with that of the 
church of God ; and the whole is employed for the 
purpose of instructing the saints, and of supporting 
their hopes and benevolent exertions. The educa- 
tion of believers, of which the bible is unquestion- 
ably the perfect standard, cannot correspond with 
their diversified conditions, temptations, and duties, 
if all their civil relations be excluded from consi- 
deration, and their pastors utterly prohibited from 
expounding those portions of scripture which exhibit 
mankind in their collective capacity and character. 
Individual man is certainly a very interesting object 
of attention and study. The christian, from the first 
moments of his spiritual life ; throughout the whole 
progress of this his new and better nature to the per- 
fection of the man of God ; in the trying hour of 
his separation from the world ; and in his future 
state of endless enjoyment ; furnishes the public 
teachers and private members of the church, with 
abundant matter of useful discourse and reflection : 
but, the social concerns of the rational creature, as 
they occupy a great portion of our time; give ex- 
ercise to all our powers ; and affect all our duties 
and enjoyments ; must not be forgotten in the ap- 
plication of the word of truth, to the moral part 
of the tenants of this world, who are preparing 
for the high society which we hope to enter when 



PUBLIC AFFAIRS. 19 

our pilgrimage is finished. No man can be permit- 
ted to explain the prophecies which are already ac- 
complished, unless he be allowed to apply the fact 
to the prediction: and for the same reason, those, 
which are now fulfilling, or hereafter to be fulfilled, 
cannot be pointed out to the friends of religion, un- 
less we have a right to bring into view in our public 
ministrations great political events and characters. 
Let the experiment be made upon the books, written 
by Daniel and John, and the truth of my assertion 
will be universally confessed. 

4. A more copious and conclusive argument in 
support of our light, to preach what may, in a cer- 
tain sense, be denominated politics, k> derived from 
the precepts of inspiration which \\<- are required to 
proclaim to the world. The pticsVs lijts should ktm 
lcmowltdgt, and they shou/d seek tin Ian at his 
mouth y for he is the wussenger of the Lord of 
hosts* 

It will not, 1 hope, be denied, thai christian milli- 
ters have a right to make the commandments of their 
God a subject of discussion. The Ian is holt/, and 
the commandment holy, and just, and good.j There if, 
I admit, some danger of abusing tlii- and every other 
right which we possess ; and for such abuse we de- 
serve correction. In proportion, too, to the danger 
of misrepresenting the word of truth, should be om 

1 Mai. ii. 7. ) Rom. vii. 12. 



20 THE RIGHT OF DISCUSSING 

caution in the selection and discussion of subject 
before the public. This caution is peculiarly neces- 
sary for Ihose ministers who venture upon political 
remarks. Our own partialities are apt to betray Hi 
into error. The acuteness of an independent people, 
alive to their political interests, is waiting to detect 
our aberrations. A feverish sensibility, inseparable 
from the deep intrigues of selfish policy, renders a 
few incapable of hearing without misapprehension, 
and of speaking without misrepresentation. Semi 
have swerved from a good conscience, and have turned 
aside unto vain jangling ; desiring to he teachers of the 
larv ; understanding neither what they say nor whereof 
they affirm. But we know that the law is good if a man 
use it lawfully,* And it is impossible to make any 
use of some parts of the divine law, without enter- 
ing upon discussions that may be termed political. 
If I can show to you, my christian brethren, from 
this volume, by which alone you are bound to try 
my ministry among you, that the law of God giv< 
directions about the several great concerns of civil 
polity, you will not again call in question my right, 
to declare, from this place, the duty required of us in 
relation to civil life. Bear with me, for a little, and 
I shall quote for your inspection passages, which 
prescribe The mode of constituting civil rulers — The 
character of such as administer the government — 
The duty of the constituted authorities — The conduct 
proper upon the part of subjects — passages which 

* 1 Tim. i. 5—8. 



PUBLIC AFFAIRS. 21 

Reprove them who confer power improperly — and 
Threaten magistrates who art vnmindful of their 
high obligations. 

All these are political doctrines, which the Gover- 
nor of the universe commands us to teach to the 
nations of the earth. 

1. The mode of constituting rulers, is by electing, 
to the several departments of state, suitable charac- 
ters from among the people over whom they are to 
exercise authority. Exod. xviii. 21. Thou shall pro- 
vide out of all the people ahlc men, such as fear 
God, men of truth, halimc covetousness, and place such 
over them to be rulers. The chief concern of a nation 
in forming its arrangements, ought to be the wist 
and equitable distribution of power into proper 
hands. The divine rule for doing this, now quoted, 
has never been surpassed. It i^ adapted to every na- 
tion ; and its excellence obvious to every man of 
Understandings. The prerequisites, in a candidate 
for power, are plainly staled. They are four, capa- 
eity, piety integrity, and disinterestedness. They 
appear, too, in the order of their relative impor- 
tance; First, capacity — able men. The ignorant, 
the feeble, the foolish, and the insane, are discarded, 
as obviously unfit to bear office among rational be- 
ings. Second, piety — mch as fear God. The scep- 
tic, the vicious, and the profane, are rejected from 
authority over the accountable subjects of the di- 
vine moral government. Third, integrity — men of 



22 THE RIGHT OF DISCUSSING 

truth. The ambitious, the dissembler, and the hy- 
pocrite, being unprincipled, are dangerous and un- 
worthy of trust. Fourth, disinterestedness— -//////' //£ 
covetousness. The selfish, and the mercenary man 
would sacrifice the public good at the shrine of an 
individual servant. 

The general maxim of polity, from which all these 
directions flow, is, that no provisions of a constitution 
of government, however wisely adopted, can pre- 
serve the liberties and promote the good of society, 
unless they be administered by suitable officers. 
Measures, the object ; and, for their sakes, proper 
men. In this view, I consider as correct, the decla- 
ration of a great parliamentary orator, " How vain 
then, how idle, how presumptuous is the opinion, 
that laws can do everything? and how weak and 
pernicious the maxim founded upon it, that mea- 
sures, not men, are to be attended to !"* 

2. The character, to be supported by those who 
are in power in any commonwealth, is expressly pre- 
scribed, 2 Sam. xxiii. 3. The God of Israel said — 
He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear 
of God. 

If government be instituted for the good of the 
community, and not for the pleasure of an in- 
dividual, as the divine law declares and common 
sense admits, provision ought to be made for the 

* Fox's Hist. Phil. 1303, page 14. 



PUBLIC AFFAIRS. 23 

speedy removal of a public servant who is unwor- 
thy of the trust reposed in him. The law must of 
course be applied to his character during the whole 
period of his continuance in office. If he cannot 
bear the test, a more worthy personage ought to be 
selected in order to occupy in his room. In vaia 
would the divine law appoint a criterion, unless it 
were proper to dispossess the occupant who could 
not endure its application. The constitution of go- 
vernment, which requires base men, or those other- 
wise disqualified for the duties of a high station, to 
continue in power for life, is on thai vvry account 
inconsistent with the bible. The criterion 9pecifi< d 
in the passage before yon, u both obvious and of 
ea-\ application. It is twofold— justness to mm, and 
revert net for their Creator, ll( thai rultlhour nun — 
moral agents united by social ties, dining the time 
he continues in power, must, of necessity, exhibit 
these qualifications, [fhebe unjust to men, these 
men ought, for their own sakes, to disposal ss him 
and if he have no resp< < i for the Creator, men, ac- 
countable to him who is worthy of< bu •< m and fear, 
ought, in testimony oftbeir allegiance t«» the almigh- 
ty Governor of nation-, t<> remove from influence and 
honour the despiser of his name and law. 

3. It is required of the constituted authorities of a 
nation, that they officially recognize the christian 
religion, and cherish the interests of the church of 
Jesus Christ Psalm ii. J().' 1:2. Be wise, now, there- 
fore, O ye kings ; be instructed, ye judges of the 



24 THE RIGHT OF DISCUSSING 

earth. Serve the Lord with fear — Kiss the Son lest 
he he angry. 

As it is the will of God, declared in the constitu- 
tion of human nature and in the circumstances of 
human life, as well as in the scriptures, that men 
should associate under suitable regulations, he pre- 
scribes for those, who frame and execute laws in a 
commonwealth so formed, their duty in relation to 
himself their sovereign Lord, almighty Protector, and 
omniscient Judge. It is their wisdom to comply — to 
hear, understand, and obey his divine injunctions, 
revealed in the christian religion. 

4. The course of conduct, becoming the subjects 
of such equitable and righteous rulers, is also pointed 
out, and the reason upon which it is founded, is con- 
nected with the precept. Rom. xiii. 1, 5, 6. Let 
every soul be subject unto the higher powers ; for th&rc 
is no power but of God : the powers that be are or- 
dained of God. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, 
not only for wrath bid for conscience' sake. For this 
cause, pay ye tribute also : for they are God's minis- 
ters attending continually on this very thing. 

The duly specified is conscientious submission . 
that submission to be expressed by obedience to the 
law, and the punctual payment of such sums, as are 
required for the maintenance of public credit, and 
the support of the government. The reasons annex- 
ed are sufficiently forcible. The rulers of the na- 



PUBLIC AFFAIR 5. 25 



tion, are its public servants, and of course to be sup- 
ported by those who appoint them : being appointed* 
they are the servants of God for the maintenance of 
moral order; and reverence for him will produce 
respect for them. " They are ordained of God. They 
are God's ministers, attending continually on this 
very thing." 

The controversy, about the divine right of both 
the mitre and the crown, is passing rapidly into ob- 
livion. The theory of civil polity, is from the scrip- 
tures, very easily understood. The formation of 
constitulion-, and the election of officers, are the 
work of the community; and thus, government is Ihe 
ordinance of mem. Jehovah, the God of order and 
equity, approves of the civil association formed upon 
moral principles, and sanctions with his own high 
authority the proper exercise of legitimate power. 
Thus, government is the ordinance of God. 1 Pet ii. 
13 — 15. Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man, 
whether it he to tht king or unto governors, for so is 
the nil/ of God. Rom. xiii. 2. Whosoever, therefore, 
resistclh the pom r nsisUlh the ordinance of God. 

5. The Sovereign of the universe threatens with 
his divine displeasure, those who contrive and main- 
tain governments, otherwise than upon true moral 
principles. Hos. viii. 3, 4, 13. Israel hath cast off' 
the thing that is good: the enemy shaft pursue him. 
They have set up kings, but not by me ; the: have made 
princes, and T knew it not. Now niil he remember their 
iniquities, and visit their sins. 

A 



26 THE RIGHT OF DISCUSSING 

In this chapter, the sin of creating and maintaining 
an immoral system of civil polity is connected with 
that of an abuse of religion. It was the crime of Is- 
rael, as well as of other nations, both ancient and 
modern, to couple together an abuse of religion and 
government into one complex system of impiety 
and misrule. This has always been effected by the 
evil management of designing men, who availed them- 
selves of the ignorance, the apathy, and the vices of 
the people at large, in order to promote their own 
schemes of ambition. But these are not alone in the 
blame. The Lord in his word declares the whole 
community guilty, and threatens them with deserved 
punishment. His providence is a continual com 
mentary upon the declaration, and a constant execu- 
tion of the threatening. The body of a nation suf- 
fers under bad government. The fact cannot be dis- 
puted. The justness of this measure is easily shown. 
The population of a country have the power. They 
can, if they will, pull down, build up, alter, and 
amend the system of social order. When they sub- 
mit to thrones of iniquity which frame mischief by 
law, their condition is not merely a state of suffering 
which we may pity, but also a fault which we are to 
blame. If through neglect or discord, they do not 
co-operate in reform, suffer they justly must. Shall 
not the Judge of all the earth do right ? 

6. Civil rulers who neglect their duty, and abuse 
their power, are also threatened with divine judg- 
ments. Psalm xciv. 20. 23. Shall the throne of ini- 
quity havefelhrvship with thee, which framelh mischief 



PUBLIC AFFAIRS. 27 

by a law ? He shall bring upon them their own iniqui- 
ty, and shall cut them off' in their own wickedness ; yea, 
the Lord our God shall cut them off. 

Iniquity is displeasing to the Lord, because it is 
contrary to his nature. The splendour of human great- 
ness, and the pomp of human power, although they 
dazzle our eyes and impose upon our credulity, will 
not prevent him from judging righteously ; and the 
greatness of the mischief, consequent upon the trans- 
gressions of men in power, instead of screening 
them from detection, will increase their condemna- 
tion. Elevated as the higher ranks of life are above 
the censures of the community, and unrestrained as 
is their consequent indulgence in crime, they can- 
not escape with impunity from him who refuses fel- 
lowship with them in their illegitimate authority. 
" Hath he said, and shall he not do it } or hath he 
spoken, and shall he not make it good ?'** 

In these judgments, which are inflicted upon those 
who neglect to rule according to the principles of 
the moral law, however heavy they fall, christians, 
so far as they are influenced by script ui a 1 advice 
and example, will readily acquiesce. O Lord, thou 
hast ordained them for judgment; and, O might* 
God, thou hast established than for correction. Thou 
art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not loof, 
on iniquity.^ 

Xumb. sxiii. 19. + Hab. i. 12 ? 1.1. 



28 THE EIGHT OP DISCUSSING 

From this collation, of passages selected from the 
standard of our faith and practice, aruWembracing the 
whole theory of civil polity, you will readily per- 
ceive the force of my argument in support of the 
right which I now claim. If the divine law be the 
rule of our christian ministry, and the scriptures be 
the bond of connexion between pastor and people, 
then have I shown the authority, under which I act 
in introducing this discussion, to be perfectly com- 
petent. 

I claim the privilege of explaining the law of my 
God. I claim it, too, not merely as a privilege, which 
I am at liberty to use. It is not even optional to the 
ministers of religion whether to use it or not : they 
are bound by their public instructions, as ambassa- 
dors for Christ, to raise a voice which shall reach to 
both the cottage and the throne, and teach their se- 
veral occupants their respective duties. " Go" said 
our arisen Lord to his ministers, when handing to 
them their commission, " disciple all nations, teaching 
them to observe all things whatsoever I have command- 
ed you." We must, my brethren, in order to be 
faithful to our exalted employer, have it in our pow- 
er to say upon a review of our ministry, after an ex- 
ample of approved excellence, " I have not shunned 
to declare unto you the whole counsel of God"* 

1L Remove Objections. 

* Acts xx. 27, 



TUBLIC AFFA1KS. 2 ( J 

There are many, who admit that the public teach- 
er? of the christian churches have a right, both as 
citizens of the commonwealth, and as interpreters 
of the oracles of God, to express their sentiments on 
political subjects, who, nevertheless, deem it inexpe- 
dient to exercise the right. Prudence, lest by giv- 
ing offence, they frustrate the more important ob- 
jects of their mini-try ; personal timidity, test they 
provoke disrespect and opposition; christian tender- 
ness, l< st they should wound the feelings of a pious 
hearer; and in some, perhaps, a sense <>f their own 
incompetency, <>r an ignoble pusillanimity, prevent 
the ministers of religion generally from introducing 
political remarks in their discourses. In abstaining 
from the exercise of this right, let christian pa-tors 
use their own discretion: I am willing to admit, that 
we ought rarely touch on such points; but an ab-o- 
lute prohibition cannot be supported by any solid 
reasoning-. The following summary comprehends all 
the arguments, with which I am acquainted, against, 
the right of introducing politics to the pulpit. 

Christ crucified is the proper theme of ministerial 
discussion — The kingdom of the Redeemer i- not of 
this world — Ministers have the care of souls and not 
of the bodily estate — Gospel hearers are divided in 
political Opinions — Political remarks are unfavoura- 
ble to devotion — Preachers are dictatorial, and 
usually opposed to civil liberty. 

I proceed, to the examination of these objections, 
with a conlidence that, without injury to the feelings 



30 THE RIGHT OF DISCUSSING 

of any candid mind, I shall be able to prove them 
invalid. 

1. Objection. " Christ and him crucified is the 
proper theme of pulpit discussion ; and, therefore, it 
is improper to introduce political concerns.' > 

In examining this objection, I joyfully, as well as 
readily, admit the precious truth contained in the as- 
sertion upon which the argument is supposed to rest. 
With my hand upon my heart, I repeat, in your 
ears, the words of the great evangelizer of the Gen- 
tiles, " For / determined not to know any thing 
among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified." 
And from that determination, if I ever recede, let 
my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth.j 

This declaration, however, neither supports the 
objection, nor excludes from the pulpit the duties of 
civil life. We are not to confine our ministry to the 
mere words " Christ crucified." The doctrines of the 
cross must be inculcated. We are not to confine our 
discussion to the fact of Christ's death; but must 
preach of his person, his covenant, his mission, his 
work, his power, his providence, and his law ; and 
that law, in its application to man in his social as 
well as individual capacity. 

The apostle Paul himself, who first employed the 
words referred to, understood them in this latitude. 

* 1 Cor. ii. 2. f Psalm exxxvii. G. 



' 



PUBLIC AFFAIRS. 31 

He inculcated the doctrines of grace. He proclaim- 
ed the duties of domestic and of civil life. He 
spake of rulers, and of their laws, and of their sub- 
jects. He shunned not to declare the whole counsel of 
of God. J 

The prophets, who preceded Paul, in diffusing the 
light of revealed truth, had acted in the same man- 
ner; and the Lord himself, when he appeared on 
earth, spake of other subjects, as well as of the de- 
cease which he was to accomplish in Jerusalem. Fol- 
lowing their example we, too, would give this exten- 
sion to our ministry, "built upon the foundation of 
the apo.tles and prophets, Jesus Chris! himself being 
the chief corner-stone." 

That very reason, which the objector urges against 
the introduction into the pulpit of political remarks, 
we esteem as an argument in its favour. The ob- 
jection proceeds upon the principle, that the gospel 
doctrine, the christian religion, is to be perpetually 
separated from the polity of nations ; we go upon the 
directly opposite principle, that civil rule should be 
regulated by the maxims of christian law. Seeing, 
therefore, that we determined to know nothing among 
you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified ; we intro- 
duce into this place our political sentiments, and in- 
vite you to correct, by the revelation of truth, all 
your political maxims and actions. Let us recom- 
mend in the same breath, religious and civil dutv. 
Love the brotherhood— Fear God— Honour the Kin". 



* 1 Pet. ii. 17. 



32 THE RIGHT OP DISCUSSING 

2. Objection. « The kingdom of the Redeemer 
is not of this world; and therefore the ministers of 
the Redeemer should not interfere with the king- 
doms of this world." 

Far be it from me to deny the truth of the maxim 
with which this objection commences. It is a part of 
that good confession, which the faithful and true wit- 
ness made before the Roman deputy, who exercised 
over subJMgated Palestine, the iron sway of the Cae- 
sars. Pontius Pilate, agitated by a consciousness of 
the innocence of Jesus Christ, and of his own guilt, 
and labouring to devise means for delivering the 
victim of Jewish malevolence without risking his own 
popularity, proposed, from the judgment-seat, which 
he so unworthily filled, the question, Art thou the 
king of the Jews ? Jesus answered, My kingdom is not 
of this world* He admitted that he was a king. 
He bore witness unto the truth; and the truth is, 
that he is King of kings — higher than the kings of the 
earth .f How then are we to understand the assertion, 
"my kingdom is not of this world?" In its most 
obvious meaning. His power is from a higher source. 
It is of God. It is not from the election of the peo- 
ple, nor the appointment of the Emperor. It is Je- 
hovah, who said to him, Sit thou at my right hand — 
Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. Ask of me, 
and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, 
and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. % 
If, therefore, his kingdom is not of this world, it i? 

* John xviii. 33, 36. f Psalm Ixxxix. 27. \ Psalm ii. 8. 



PCELIC AFFAIRS. 33 

of God : it is over the world : The Lord hath prepar- 
ed his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom ruleth 
over all.* 

So far, then, from furnishing an objection against 
the claim of right, which we make, is this principle, 
that it in fact establishes it beyond all dispute. The 
kingdom of Christ is of God, over the nations, there- 
fore we apply the laws of that kingdom to the na- 
tional polity. We shall never recognize as valid the 
claim of Satan, though termed the god of this world, 
to the sovereignty over the nations ; but shall endea- 
vour to rescue them from the dominion of the usur- 
per, and restore thorn in allegiance to their lawful 
governor, " the prince of the kings of the earth." The 
Saviour himself, when the adversary tempted him, 
by a requisition of homage, and an oiler of power 
over the world, refused both the demand, and the 
gift, because worship is due only unto God; and 
from God himself, the Redeemer had already obtain- 
ed all power over the kingdoms of the earth. The 
church of Christ is in this world. Christians are con- 
cerned in the kingdoms of this world, as rulers and 
ruled. The kingdom of Christ is not of, but over 
this world. The ministers of Christ have therefore a 
right to treat of all the moral concerns of human so- 
ciety. 

3. Ohjection. " As ministers have the care of 
souls, and not of the bodily estate of men, they 

' Psalm ciii. 10. 
5 



34 THE BIGHT OF DISCUSSING 

should not be permitted to treat of any except spi- 
ritual subjects." 

The great concern of every pastor who is faithful 
to the people whom he serves, is to feed the flock of 
God with knowledge and understanding. It is mind 
that makes the man ; and the interest of one soul is 
more to be sought after, because, in reality, mow 
valuable, than the whole world. I know that ttie 
oracles of God inform you, who hear the gospel, 
that the rulers of Israel watch for your souls, as thnj 
that must give account* Wo to the unfaithful pastoi 
who forgets the souls of men, or refuses to minister 
to their edification. 

The improvement of mind, however, does not re- 
quire the neglect of the body. These constituent* 
of living man, are intimately connected by a divine 
hand. Both were assumed by the Saviour, and re- 
deemed by his blood. In both, we glorify God on 
earth, and shall enjoy him in heaven. The material 
world is created for the sake of the moral ; and it 
is upheld by Messiah for the sake of revealing his 
perfections, in the salvation of men. Matter itselfc 
therefore, may be referred to in our mini-try ; and 
useful remarks, upon its nature and its laws, may, 
without incurring the blame of injuring the cause of 
spirituality, be interwoven with pulpit exhibitions. 
Politics respect not the bodily estate only, or ev< i. 
principally. They affect mind, morals, piety, com- 

* Heb. xiii. 1 7. 



1TBLIC AFFAIRS. 35 

fort and duty. So far as they do so, they may come 
under review. It is not to settle the claims for empire, 
to define geographical boundaries, or to adjust the 
contendings of human ambition ; hut in order to 
aid the christian in maintaining a const i» rice void of 
offence towards God and man, thai we would ever 
introduce the subject into the public worship of our 
God. In order t<» promote the good of souls, and not 
with the design of diminishing \ our spiritualrminded- 
ne--, we urge this duty , that, with spiritual views of 
political movements, y*m may intermingle with the 
world ; that whatsoever y do, whether yi eat or drink, 
i/t mai/ dn nil to if" glory of God.* All things, not 
excepting political events, are l"i your -ak< -. The 
whole of the nation- are subordinate to the church, 
the spiritual spouse of Immanuel. lamtht Lord 
ih if (i'ihJ, i/h holy <>ii< of Israeli thy 8aviour: I L r <ii' 
Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seha for ///<*. 

Sinn thou Wast jirnimis in mi/ sight, thOH //"•>/ hnn 

honourable, and I haw loved thet . therefon will Igivi 

mm for th< i and peopli for thy life.] 

The judicious minister will weigh, in the balanct 
of the Banctuary, everj subject, forth* purpose of 
determining its importance. He will rarely entei 
upon political topic-. He will never descend to 
questions of mere party: but there are times in 
which he ought not to be silent, respecting the con- 
duct of nation-, or of christians in their civil capa* 
city. 

' 1 Cor. x. 31. ; Isa. xliii. 3 



36 THE RIGHT OF DISCUSSING 

4. Objection. * Gospel-hearers are usually so di- 
vided, on political subjects, that ministers ought not 
to give offence by expressing their own opinions." 



Christians are, alas, divided : and the pride of opin- 
ion in their distracted state, does much mischief. It 
is the policy of the mere men of this world to keep 
them divided; and the god of this world triumphs 
in their want of unanimity and cordiality. If chris- 
tians did uniformly co-operate, Satan's servants and 
kingdom could not prosper. But the professors of 
religion are divided, not about politics only ; every 
doctrine of Christianity, every article of ecclesiastical 
order, has been a subject of dispute and contention. 
Are not the ambassadors of Christ, at liberty to 
preach disputed doctrines, and enforce any particu- 
lar discipline or rule, even although some professed 
christians should withhold their assent ? Certain pub- 
lic teachers, may, indeed, esteem it convenient to act 
upon this maxim, and never support any one system 
of doctrine or of order. These are not the exam- 
ples of our ministry. Evangelical truths, I know, 
are more important, infinitely more important, than 
the common causes of party contention in politics ; 
therefore they require the more attention. When 
occasion requires, however, the mere fact, that men 
are of different politics, ought not to prevent the 
application of the word of God to their disputes. 
Political morality is essential to Christianity. 

Am I told, that this will do no good: that it will 
only give oflence : that it will alienate the affection^ 



PUBLIC AFFAIRS. 37 

of one set of politicians from the pastor: that it will 
mar his usefulness ; and create personal enemies to 
himself? Who makes these assertions ? Men who 
are mild and free from political bias ? or men who 
are full of violence, and determined to execute the 
threatening ? In the discharge of my duty, I will 
fearlessly run this risk. I will try whether, in this 
liberal age, the candid investigation of the subject 
before me, without ungenerous allusion or invective, 
will create me personal enemies. 1 will make the 
experiment, whether it be possible for any minister 
of religion to prefer the cause of his country to that 
of its powerful foe, without provoking the resentment 
of party spirit. If I suffer, I am prepared for it: 
but I do not expect any such treatment. Men of 
different religious sentiments hear without passion 
the same sermon. Are they, then, more concerned 
about political than religioui truth, and dispos- 
ed to resent a difference of opinion on that subject, 
more than on subjects relative to their eternal inter- 
ests. I cannot, as yet, admit this to be the case. I 
confidently indulge the hope, that there is more li- 
berality, among those who attend upon gospel 
ordinances, than to deny to us the right, which they 
exercise themselves, of forming each his own senti- 
ments, on political morality, and of modestly express- 
ing them to the world. 

AVe presume not to prescribe for you. We do 
not dictate to you in the choice of public officers. 
We allow you to judge for yourselves. We only 
require of you a similar permission for us: and, 



38 THE RIGHT OF DISCUSSING 

upon this subject, while we cautiously avoid the 
use of intemperate language, we have only to ask, 
that you do justice to our arguments, and to the mo- 
tives with which they are offered. 

5. Objection. " Political remarks are unfavour- 
able to devotion; and therefore unsuitable to the 
pulpit/' 

In endeavouring to obviate this objection, I feel as 
if 1 had to encounter the most difficult task which 
my subject imposes upon me. The devotional feel- 
ings of many professed christians are so feeble, and 
have so little foundation in moral principle, that they 
are readily deranged or removed. Others, who 
have learned only the rudiments of religion, seldom 
consider it in any other light than as matter of men- 
tal comfort to an individual, without having any 
relation to their improvement and usefulness as 
members of society. As they would give their at- 
tention to the things of time, uninfluenced by chris- 
tian principles, they may wish to fix in the sanctua- 
ry their attention upon the concerns of eternity, 
without any reference to a general reformation of 
either church or state. It is ever to be expected, 
that those, who are unwilling to consider religiously 
their political concerns, will be as unwilling to be- 
have religiously in their political transactions. 

This is the way to produce a separation between 
the two subjects. And yet the separation cannot be 
complete, unless all christians are secluded from 



PUBLIC AFFAIRS. 39 

every concern in national politics ; and the entire 
management devolved upon those, who will not be 
tempted to think of the bible, as the rule, or of 
piety, as the principle, according to which civilians 
should act : and where would this end ; but in the 
transfer of the undivided management of national af- 
fairs into the hands of infidels. 

The principle of this objection, while it appears 
to proceed from spiritual-mindedness, is near of kin 
to the unenlightened devotion of the recluse or the 
hermit, who retires from the world into a life of so- 
litude. It approaches monastic holiness more than 
the piety of Abraham, of Elijah, of Daniel, of Paul, 
and of John the Divine. The.«e were men of piety 
They taught, and they practised the duties of politi- 
cal life, both in peace and in war, without thinking 
that it injured devotion : and even, in Hit spirit on 
the Lord's day, the beloved disciple is directed by 
bis arisen Lord, to write of the contendings and 
changes of empire. 

Believe me, brethren, if our religion is of the right 
description, and exists in a proper measure, we shall 
certainly be enabled to contemplate the providence 
of God in all human affairs, and apply the law of 
God to questions of civil polity, without either en- 
dangering a pious frame of mind, or engendering the 
evil passions of worldly politicians. I confess, how- 
ever, that I feel, at the same time, for the infirmities 
of the weak; and should be disposed to avoid any 
thing that might have a tendency to mar their feeble 



40 THE RIGHT OF DISCUSSING 

devotion, did not duty require of the ambassadors 
of Christ, to apply the law of their God to all 
questions of practical morality. 

6. Objection. " Preachers are usually dictato- 
rial, and opposed to the religious and civil liberties 
of men. It is painful to be under the necessity of 
publicly contradicting them, and it is therefore bet- 
ter for them to omit political remarks in the pul- 
pit." 

The habit of public speaking without danger of 
interruption, or immediate opposition to the dec la- 
rations which they make, as it is required by the re- 
spect due to devotional exercises, and enjoj < d by the 
ministers of religion, is calculated to cherish, upon 
their part, a decision of expression, which may bor- 
der upon the dogmatic. It is probable, nevertheless, 
that the pulpit orator, is, usually, as far removed 
from this extreme, as the members of the senate, or 
the gentlemen of the bar. A man of mind, convin- 
ced himself of the truth of his assertions, will, in 
any situation, speak with an air of confidence ; but 
there is no necessity of his treating with contumely 
the sentiments of such as think differently from him : 
and it is especially unbecoming the pulpit to affect 
contempt for the persons of men. If it be a fact, 
that a multitude of religious instructers are found 
friendly to arbitrary power and to an illegitimate 
subserviency of church to state polity, it is surely no 
good reason for preventing men, who understand 
and value the rights both of God and man, from 



PUBLIC AFFAIRS. 41 

pointing out the duty of christians in relation both 
to ecclesiastical and civil society. It is not difficult 
to account for the fact, that so many of the sacerdo- 
tal order have inclined to despotism, and yet show, 
that the liberal discussion of such topics from the 
pulpit is truly favourable to the real liberties of 
men. 

Licentiousness is as remote from civil liberty as is 
tyranny itself. The righteousness which exalteth 
a nation, includes intelligence and public molality. 
No moral improvement can take place without re- 
gard to religion: and Christianity, as opposed to in- 
fidelity, to superstition, and to lawless power, is em- 
phatically the religion of M peace upon earth, and of 
good will towards men." h i- the n ligion of benevo- 
lence to man, as w< il as piety towards God, and of 
course the only u perfect law of liberty." You will 
allow me to add, that no means whatever can be 
possibly successful in finally rescuing from usurpa- 
tion the liberties of mankind, and of purifying and 
perpetuating them, without the aid of the religion 
taught by the Son of God. This alone is effectual 
in changing the heart, from whence proceed the am- 
bition and the strife which have been the causes both 
of arbitrary domination and wasteful wars among 
the nations of the earth. When I shall have point- 
ed out the causes which incline the ministers of the 
church, to the side of arbitrary power among the na- 
tions, 1 shall illustrate tin- sentiment with a review 
of facts, and so conclude my apology for intiodu- 
eing this subject into the pulpit. 





12, THE RIGHT OF DISOOSSIKG 

!. Account for the fact, that christian ministers 
should, in despite of the tendency of the christian 
religion to favour the cause of civil liberty, be often 
found among the supporters of the interests of arbi- 
trary power, 

It is not to be expected, among men of imperfect 
faculties and of like passions with others, that they 
should be perfectly conformed to the divine law, 
or even, in every case, assimilated to the examples 
which divine revelation records with approbation. 
They are capable of being, in part, affected by sur- 
rounding circumstances, where they are piously 
disposed ; and, it is not to be questioned, that, in 
many instances, men enter into the ministry with 
unsanctified hearts, as the means of procuring a 
convenient livelihood. The great body of the 
priesthood of the nations will accordingly yield to 
the force of circumstances, and there are found so 
many exciting causes to prejudice the mind against 
civil liberty, that it is easy to account for the fact 
which we deplore. 

These causes are to be found in the ecclesiastical 
establishments of the nations — The personal ambi- 
tion of ecclesiastics — The power of fear — And the 
inclination to propagate their own opinions, natural 
to all men. 






First. The ecclesiastical establishments amon< 
the nations, secure a very great proportion of all 
the clergy in the christian world, upon the side of 



FI T BLIC AFFAIRS. 43 

the system of civil rule, by which they are supported, 
many of them in great splendour and opulence. They 
are themselves, as much as the Egyptian, Chaldean, or 
Roman hierarchies, a part of the national govern- 
ment, and as such identified with the prevailing des- 
potism. They, of course, and also as many as can 
be influenced by their doctrine and example, will be 
disposed to coincide with tyrannical powei 

Second. Personal ambition is, everywhere, in a 
greater or less degree, to be found. Clerical ambi- 
tion was found in the apostolical age, and it has ne- 
ver yet diminished ; hut still continues to agitate the 
churches. That civil liberty, which offers restraint 
to its exercise, and which denies gratification to its 
desires, will not receive so much of its aid, as a more 
splendid and powerful system, which can reward ils. 
services, by reducing within its reach the objects 
which it is anxious to compasi — rank, influence, and 
opulence. Discerning statesmen, of arbitrary and 
ambitious news, will understand their men ; and the 
understanding becomes mutual. 

" Human establishments hare always been made engines of state 
policy: they have promoted hypocrisy and infidelity — the great 
evil has been in the civil magistrate usurping the throne of Chrir-t, 
and exercising spiritual dominion — Here," in the United States, 
■ is an asyhim for you, our brethren of the old world, whose lives 
are embittered by the cruel impositions of men; the fruit of whose 
labours go to support lazy priests and luxurious princes j who though 
you rise early, and late take rest, obtain only a scanty subsistence 
for yourselves and families." The blessings of America. .7 sermon, 
h/fhc laic Dr. Linn, of Ken-York, 1701. 



4,4 THE RIGHT OF DISCUSSING 

Third. The fear of infidelity, ruinous as that 
system is, not only to ecclesiastical authority, but to 
good morals, and to present and future happiness, 
has driven many of the best men of the present age, 
into an unhappy attachment to the doctrines of the old 
antichristian school, lrreligion formed, especially at 
the commencement of the French revolution, a tem- 
porary connexion with liberty against the dominion 
of European despotism ; and virtuous minds, not capa- 
ble of sufficient discrimination, rejected liberty on 
account of her evil associate. Designing men looked 
upon the connexion with pleasure, as affording an 
opportunity of sounding the alarm, and reducing 
into discredit the cause of liberty as if inseparable 
from impiety and licentiousness. Ministers, like 
others, took the alarm ; and although the scriptures 
assure us, that no other evil is to have such de- 
structive influence in the church, as the antichristian 
polity of superstitious establishments, they spake, 
in private, and from the pulpit, as if democracy and 
dei»m were the only calamity to the church of God. 
In the course of a few years, of madness and misrule 
upon the part of France, habits of opposition to revo- 
lutions, and of attachments to ancient despotism, have 
been so strongly formed, that, even now, when history 
proves the danger to have been visionary, and France 
has actually returned to her ancient boundaries, and 
her ancient superstition, under her former race of 
kings ; the practice continues of presenting liberty ar- 
rayed in the garb of infidelity, as an object of execra- 
tion and universal abhorrence. Another generation 
will scarcely credit the extent of the panic among the 



PUBLIC AFFAlKs. 4 J 

churches of the reformation. They will be amazed 
on learning from history, that distinguished and in- 
telligent protestants in our own country, had been 
driven by their fears of French infidelity, so far into 
a forgetfulness of the faith of their fathers, and of 
the recent struggles which established their national 
liberties, as to hail like the millennium, an event 
which tended to consolidate European despotisms; 
which restored to power the man of sin, with all the 
gloomy terrors of the Roman inquisition ; and which 
afforded the opportunity to their ancient foe, of 
pouring out his victorious legions upon their own 
shores. 

Fourth. It is natural for men to express their 
opinions to others; and to be uneasy under restraint. 
Ministers of religion are as much disposed as any of 
their fellow-citizens to propagate their own senti- 
ments. Their habits render them as impatient, un- 
der restraint, and of opposition, as any class of men. 
They, of course, incline to those political partizans 
who guarantee and encourage the exercise of their 
right. When they open their bibles, they discover 
political precepts which they are to expound. If 
the friends of freedom should, under misapprehen- 
sion, manifest an unwillingness to permit such expo- 
sition, and their political opponents by every means 
encourage it, a prejudice must immediately arise in 
favour of the latter. Unhappily for our country, 
this is very generally the case. And yet, however 
obvious the effect produced by these causes, sepa- 
rate or combined, it i^ a misrepresentation of the 



)U THE RIGHT OK DISCUSSING 

mo.-t injudicious and unjust description, to class the 
ministers of Christianity indiscriminately among the 
enemies of civil freedom. Real religion is the best 
friend of rational liberty. 

2. History vindicates the character of christian 
ministers, and holds them up to view, as furnishing, 
in every age, some instances of the most intrepid 
and successful resistance to the foes of freedom. 

"\Yc do not carry you back, for proofs of this as- 
sertion, to tiie ages of inspiration ; for the time would 
fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak, and of Sam- 
son, and of Jephthah ; of David also, and Samuel, and 
of the prophets: who, through faith subdued king- 
doms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, 
•topped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence 
of lire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weak- 
ness were made strong, w r axed valiant in fight, turned 
to flight the armies of the aliens.* Nor do we refer 
v "ii to the history of the Maccabean brethren, who sig- 
nal i/cd their zeal and their constancy, against the ty- 
rant Antiochus, in defence of the liberty and religion 
of their country. The story of more recent times, 
makes us acquainted with ministers of Christianity, 
who vindicated the cause of God and man at the peril 
<•!' their lives, against the encroachments and preten- 
sionsof arbil rary power. In the era of the reformation, 
i w a- hv the aid of christian divines, that men became 
cquainted with their sacred rights: Zuinglius, and 

Hob. It. 32—34. 



PUBLIC AFFAIRS. 4; 

Luther, and Calvin, and Knox, like Moses, who fear- 
ed not the wrath of the king, said to the enslavers of 
their brethren, let my people go ; and in the words of 
Samuel, when Saul had rent his mantle, the Lord 
hath rent the kingdom from thee, did they venture to 
address both kings and emperors. Who more va- 
lorous in restoring the liberties of Holland ; in con- 
quering the veterans of Alva; and in resisting 
Philip the tyrant, than the thousands who wept 
under the ministry of their patriotic and faithful pas- 
tors, before the gates of Antwerp and Haerlem. 
Throughout the several provinces of the Nether- 
lands, the founders of that famous republic were ac- 
customed to meet in arms, to hear sermons from 
preachers for whose heads rewards were in vain of- 
fered by the foes of liberty and truth. Scotland, the 
original country of the whigs, led on by her faithful 
pastors, introduced the name and the spirit into 
England ; and, by the aid of the puritan ministers, 
succeeded in the temporary reformation of both tin; 
sanctuary and the throne. To these advocates of li- 
berty, tiie British empire stands to this day under ob- 
ligation for all the freedom enjoyed by the constitu- 
tion. In encouraging and effecting the American re„ 
volution, the exertions and influence of christian mi- 
nisters, in the pulpit, in the congress, and in the field, 
were felt and duly appreciated : and there are yet 
among our own pastors, men, who, in despite of the 
baleful influence of party spirit, feel the force of piety 
and patriotism, and remember their duty to the cause 
of equity, their country, and their God. If the rights 
and liberties of this great and growing empire are 



18 THE RIGHT OF DISCUSSING, <$>. 

doomed to perish, their last abode will be found along 
the side of the pulpits of the ministers of religion. 
There are men, in that sacred office, who would, 
in such a case, use upon better principles than did 
the Roman orator, the words which he put on the 
lips of his distinguished client, Titus Annius Milo, 
" I will withdraw and retire into exile: if I cannot, 
be a member of a virtuous commonw-ealth, it will be 
some satisfaction not to live in a bad one; and, as 
soon as I set foot in a well-regulated and free state, 
there will I fix my abode — quam-primum tctigero bene 
moratam ct liberam cimtatem, i?i ea conqiriescam." But, 
no ! Liberty shall not perish ! The daughter of Zion 
rejoices in her fellowship. Peace and prosperity 
shall hereafter visit our land, and dw r ell in our habi- 
tations. The Lord hasten it in his own time, and 
unto him be glory in Christ Jesus world without 
end. Ame.x. 



THE MORAL CHARACTER OF THE TWO 
BELLIGERENTS. 



-W&\S>- 



SERMON II. 

Tekel ; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art 
found wanting. Dan. v. 27. 

1 HIS solemn sentence was pronounced by a pro- 
phet of God, upon one of the most splendid and 
powerful monarchies that ever existed. At a very 
critical period, and under circumstances of the most 
alarming kind, Daniel ventured to proclaim this un- 
welcome truth, before the assembled lords and ru- 
lers of Chaldea. 

^ Belshazzar, the Nabonadius of the Greek histo- 
rians, and the son of Evil-merodac, by his queen, the 
celebrated Nitocris, now sat upon the throne of Ne- 
buchadnezzar, his grandfather, and the most famous 
of the kings of Babylon. It was on the 1 7th year of 
his criminal and calamitous reign, and on the anni- 
versary of a festival sacred to the idol-god, Sheshach, 
that Belshazzar ordered an entertainment for his 
thousand lords, in the spacious halls of his proud 

7 



50 THE MORAL CHARACTER OF 

palace. He forgot, amidst his wine, and his revelry, 
that lie was in a besieged city. For two years had 
the united armies of the far-famed Cyrus of Per- 
sia, and of his uncle Darius the Mede, laid siege to 
Babylon, the most magnificent metropolis of the 
world. Babylon, covering a square of sixty miles 
circumference, watered by the great river Euphrates, 
surrounded by a wall of eighty-seven feet in thickness, 
and of corresponding height, strengthened by three 
hundred towers of defence, and provisioned for ma- 
ny years, proudly frowned upon the thousands of 
Media and Persia, who, hitherto in vain, were en- 
deavouring its overthrow. 

Belshazzar, while he tasted the wine, commanded the 
golden vessels, taken from the house of God in Jeru- 
salem, to be brought to him. With polluted lips, 
he, his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank, 
from the sacred relics of Zion's former greatness, 
and 'praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, 
if iron, of wood, and of stone. A brilliant candle- 
-tick, with its many lights, the rays of which were 
reflected from innumerable mirrors, is suspended 
from the ceiling; and all within the palace is mirth 
and song. But, at once, the king of Babylon trem- 
bles. The paleness of death sat upon his counte- 
nance. The joints of his loins were loosed; and his 
knees smote one against another. The whole assem- 
bly fell into disorder. There was a cause. Fingers, 
unconnected with mortal hand, appear on the wall 
over against the candlestick, and there, in writing, 
Ihey leave the indelible sentence which Daniel the 



THE TWO BELLIGERENTS. 51 

prophet was summoned to interpret — Mene, Mene, 
Tekel, Upharsin. He hath numbered, he hath num- 
bered, he hath weighed, they divide. The King of 
heaven hath numbered the days of Chaldean power — 
He hath numbered them completely — The Judge of 
the earth hath weighed in the scale of moral estima- 
tion, this government — The Medes and Persians di- 
vide and destroy the empire. 

That night the interpretation was verified. The 
Medes and Persians look the city, and massacred its 
nobles. The sun of Babylon set to rise no more. 
It is now but a tale that is told. Sic transit gloria 
mundi. Human power is evanescent ; but the word 
of the Lord endureth for ever. The hand-writing upon 
the wall shall not be forgotten : the words are copied 
into our bibles : they shall be repeated over all the 
kingdoms of the nations, unto people of every kindred 
and tongue : and the maxims which they lay down, 
shall, in their full import, be applied to other times. 

Tekel, Thou art weighed in the balances. 

The same balances still remain in the hand of the 
Judge of the universe — Nations still exsist — and the 
ministers of religion, like the prophet of God, still 
interpret the divine will. 

Acting upon this authority, I proceed, to weigh, 
before your eyes, in the balance of the sanctuary, 
the British monarchy and the American republic 



52 THE MORAL CHARACTER OF 

To each, in its turn, I say Tekel. In the estimate, 
which I make, of the moral character of each of 
these belligerents, I desire to exercise the impartiali- 
ty of a visitant from another world. Of those things 
■which are essential to the formation of a correct 
judgment, I would, designedly, 

" Keep nothing back, 

" Nor aught set down in malice. ,, 

Seeing it is not as a statesman, a historian, or a 
philosopher, hut as a christian divine, and with a 
view to particular practical questions, J am now 
bound to exhibit their character, it will not be ex- 
pected that 1 should describe the state of literature 
in the two countries ; that I should attend to their 
attainments in the sciences or the useful arts; that I 
should give an account of their respective means 
and strength; that I should enter into a detail of the 
domestic economy or general manners of the peo- 
ple ; or, that T should describe the state of the 
churches, and the spirit of their public laws, other- 
wise, than as essentially necessary to an estimate of 
the comparative goodness of the two governments 
which are opposed in war. 

The controversy, to be decided by the sword, is 
in fact between the two governments, although up- 
on questions immediately affecting the members of 
each community. Independently, however, of the 
merits of the cause, for which war is waged, it is in- 
teresting for the christian 1o understand the charac- 



THE TWO BELLIGERENTS. 53 

ter of the parties in the contest. By contemplating 
these, in the light of the divine law, we shall be able 
to determine which has the least degree of the di- 
vine disapprobation, and to which, of course, the af- 
fections of the friends of God should most forcibly 
tend. There is a sense in which christians are not 
numbered among the nations. As members of 
Christ's kingdom, which is not of this world, as sub- 
jects to the Sovereign Governor of all nations, they 
are not to be influenced by partiality to country, so 
much as by correct views of the righteousness or 
iniquity which may belong to the constitutions of na- 
tional power. 

The constitutions of government as reduced to prac- 
tice, are, in this case, the proper objects of examina- 
tion. To these, as it respects the two belligerents, I 
now direct your attention, while I place them in the 
balances in the name of the Judge of the world. 

I begin at home, w 7 ith, 

I. The national government of the United Slates. 

The sin of a nation is the aggregate of all the 
transgressions committed by individuals in that na- 
tion : but these are properly national sins, which are 
notorious, prevalent, and characteristic. I speak not, 
however, of the nation at large, but of its consti- 
tuted authorities, and therefore attend oniv to au- 

THOR1ZED SINS.* 

* The following remarks, made upon the British nation, by a 
very amiable ami pious divine of the church of England, apply equal- 



54 THE MORAL CHARACTER OF 

The public immoralities of the constitution of our 
federal government, may, although more numerous 
in detail, be classed under two heads, viz. Disre- 
spect for God — and violation of human liberty. By 
the terms of the national compact, God is not at all 
acknowledged, and holding men in slavery is author- 
ized. Both these are evils. 

1. God is not acknowledged by the constitution. 
In a federative government, erected over several 
distinct and independent states, retaining each the 
power of local legislation, it is not to be expected 
that specific provision should be made for the inter- 
ests of religion in particular congregations. The 
general government is erected for the general good 
of the United States, and especially for the manage- 
ment of their foreign concerns : but no association of 
men for moral purposes can be justified in an entire 

ly to this country. " The multiplicity of oaths which are interwo- 
ven into almost every branch of public business, involves thousands 
in the habitual guilt of perjury, which perhaps may eminently be 
styled our national sin. The frequency of oaths, theirrevereut man- 
ner in which they are administered, and the impunity with which 
they are broken, have greatly contributed to weaken the sense of 
every moral obligation, and to spread a desolate and daring spirit 
through the land. The profanation of the Lord's day, drunkenness, 
profane swearing, are contrary, not only to the precept of scripture, 
but to the laws of the land ; and yet could hardly be more preva- 
lent if there were no statutes in force against them. Very few ma- 
gistrates are concerned to enforce the observation of these laws; 
and, if private persons sometimes attempt it by information, they 
meet but little success ; they obtain but little thanks. The acts of 
pleading, the minutasand niceties of forms, are employed to entan- 
gle or di-courage them, and to skreen offenders. 

Newton's Works, Phil. 1792. Vol. V. page 306. 



THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. 55 



neglect of the Sovereign of the world. Statesmen 
in this country had undoubtedly in their eye the 
abuse of religion for mere political purposes, which 
in the nations of the old world, had corrupted the 
sanctuary, and laid the foundation for the persecution 
of godly men. The principal writers, upon govern- 
ment, friendly to the cause of civil liberty in the king- 
doms of Europe, had generally advocated principles, 
which, in their application, have led, upon the part of 
civilians, to a disrespect for religion itself; and these 
principles had no small influence upon the founders of 
this republic. This was the case in a remarkable de- 
gree with the continental politicians ; nor are Sydney 
and Locke to be entirely exempted from the charge. 
In the overthrow of those particular establishments, 
favourable to the church' of England, which existed 
here before the revolution, it was natural, consider- 
ing the state of religious information in the commu- 
nity, to go to an opposite extreme. But no consi- 
deration will justify the frarners of the federal con- 
stitution, and the administration of the government, 
in withholding a recognition of the Lord and his 
Anointed from the grand charter of the nation. On 
our daily bread, we ask a blessing. At our ordina- 
ry meals, we acknowledge the Lord of the world. 
We begin our last testament for disposing of world- 
ly estates, in the name of God: and shall we be 
guiltless, with the bible in our hands, to disclaim the 
christian religion as a body politic?* 

# If it be true, as has been asserted, by men who had the oppor- 
tunity of knowing the fact, that Benjamin Franklin proposed, in 
the convention, the introduction into the constitution, of an article 



.,13 THE MORAL CHARACTER OF- 

12. The constitution of our government recognizes 
ilic practice of holding men, without being convict- 
ed of any offence against society, in perpetual 
slavery. 

This evil, prohibited by the divine law, Exod. xxi. 
hi. . hid In thai stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if 
he l>( I omul in his hand, he shall surely he put to death,* 
i- equally inconsistent with what is said, in the decla- 
ration of American independence, to be a self-evi- 
dent truth. The words of that very valuable docu- 
ment, are as follow, " We hold these truths to be 
self-evident — that all men are created equal; that, 
they are endowed by the Creator with certain una- 
lienable rights ; that, among these are life, liberty, 
and the pursuit of happiness — That to secure these 
rights governments are instituted among men." In 
direct opposition to these self-evident maxims, the 
constitution provided for the continuance of the 
slave-trade until the year 1808, and it still provides 
lot the continuance of slavery in this free country. 
It even gives to the slave-holder an influence, in le- 

professing submission to ihc Lord, and that lie was overruled, the 
ii.! (lie reproach on the part of his opponents is the greater. It 
i< certainly true, (hat an administration, often said to be more friend- 
Is to Christianity, than that which has recently existed, has dis- 
• laimed that religion in (he following words : viz. " The government 
■ I tin I mted Slates is not, in any sense, founded on the christian reli- 
•■ •<■ It li«s, i n facJfi n0 character of enmity against the laws or re- 
i i"ii of Mu8tulmcn." 

Tripol. Treaty ; Arl.W. U. S. Laws, Vol. W. 
Thii treaty, ratified in (he year 1707, was thereby made the an- 
imate la* of the land. Const. Art. 6. Sect. 2. 

1 The author published a discourse on this text, in 1802. 



THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. 57 

gislation, proportioned to the number of his fellow- 
men he holds in bondage.* 

For these national immoralities, I am bound, as a 
minister of the gospel, who derives his politics from 
the bible,f to pronounce upon this government the 
sentence of my text, — tekel, Thou art weighed in the 
balances, and art found wanting. 

Let me not be understood, however, as conveying 
the idea, that the other belligerent is not faulty in 
these respects. Great Britain set the example to her 
colonies; of prosecuting the slave-trade. She still 
retains in her numerous provinces, thousands in ab- 
ject bondage. A few good men, after the repeated, 
the continual exertion of years in the British Par- 
liament, obtained at last a victory honourable to 
themselves and to the cause of humanity, in finally 

# The Constitution of the United States declares, Art. I. Sect. 9. 
Clause 1. The migration, or importation of such persons, as any of 
the states now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not he pro- 
hibited bj r the congress, prior to the year one thousand eight hun- 
dred and eight. Art. I. Sect. 2. Clause 3. Representatives, and di- 
rect taxes, shall be apportioned among the several states which may 
be included within this union, according to their respective num- 
bers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of 
free persons — three fifths of all other persons. 

f " The bible is my system of politics. There I read, that the 
Lord reigns ; that he doth what he pleaseth in the armies of heaven, 
and among the ' inhabitants of the earth ; that no wisdom, under- 
standing, counsel, or power, can prevail without his blessing,- that, 
as righteousness exalteth a nation, so sin is the reproach, and will 
*ven totally be the ruin, of any people." Newton. 

8 



50 THE MORAL CHARACTER OF 

abolishing the African trade; but those injured peo* 
pie, already in durance, have no hope of release for 
themselves or for their offspring. Slavery is a black, 
a File inheritance left to America by her royal step- 
mother, whose injustice produced the Revolution. 

On the score of religion, it is better to neglect, than 
io prostitute the church of God. Here, the framers 
of oar law have said to the daughter of Zion, " de- 
part from our counsels. A few of us love thy cause; 
but there are some who hate it ; and the greater part 
are indifferent about thee. Go, seek thy way uninter- 
rupted through the land. Thou art free to pursue 
the most desirable course : but upon our aid thou 
must not calculate." There, political men beheld 
the christian cause with an eye that seeks to make 
gain of every object within its reach. The states- 
man said, " Come, daughter of Zion, thou must 
bear my yoke ; thou must be my servant ; thou 
must promote my interest; and shouldest thou 
refuse my mandates, thou shalt suffer for thy 
fidelity to Jehovah. Whatever the bible may 
teach, it is my business to establish such a sys- 
tem of religion as best suits my own political plans. 
This is my determination," 

Notwithstanding, therefore, the irreligion of the 
general constitution of our government, the church of 
God is, in this country, upon a better footing, as it re- 
cts the national power, than in any other country 
upon earth. Nay, under existing circumstances, it is 
our mercy, that God has so ordered it in his providence, 



THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 59 

that men, of the description of those who are elected 
to power among the nations, have not been permitted 
to interfere with ecclesiastical polity, and to exercise 
sovereignty over the consciences of men, in their spi- 
ritual concerns. While we reprobate the infidelity 
of the national compact, we rejoice in the measure 
of religious liberty which we enjoy ; and we depre- 
cate any attempts upon the part of political men, 
who do not understand the doctrines and the order 
of the christian church, to imitate the corrupt exam- 
ple of Uzzah the son of Abinadab, who applied his 
hand to the ark of the covenant, or of kings Saul 
and Azariah, who, without authority, offered sacri- 
fice and burned incense before the Lord, and were 
accordingly punished as guilty,* 

II. I now proceed to examine The moral character 
of the British Constitution. 

It is not my design, in this examination, to give 
the history of this system of government, the foun- 
dation of which is to be found in the rude and bar- 
barous institutions of the ancient Germans,f or to 
delineate its several checks and balances, in the distri- 
bution of power, according to its present practice. 
However instructive to the civilian such a review, it 
would not comport with the place in which I speak, 
or with the object which 1 contemplate. Upon its 

* 1 Sara. xiii. 10—13. 2 Chron. xxvi. 16—21. 
f Stuart's Hist. Diss, concerning the English Constitution, 



GO THE MORAL CHARACTER OF 

wisdom and its might, its stability and its grandeur, 
let others freely and fully descant : it is my business 
to place it in the balances, in order to ascertain its 
moral worth before my God and his church, tekel ; 
He hath weighed it. And by Ms word we determine 
its character. 

The British government, as it now exists, is a 
despotic usurpation— A superstitious combination of 
civil and ecclesiastical power—A branch of the grand 
antichristian apostacy—Eraslian in its constitution 
and administration— and Cruel in Us policy. It is, 
therefore, a throne of iniquity, of which neither God, 
nor godly men, who understand it, can approve* This 
is a heavy charge ; but it is not unjust : if I do not sup- 
port every article of it with sufficient documentary 
testimony, it is not because I have not abundance of 
this at my command. I lay some of the evidence be- 
fore you. The impartial will say it is enough. There 
is no need of comment. It is selected from unques- 
tionable authorities, or in itself notorious. 

1. The British government, in the present practice 
of the constitution, is not a fair representation of the 
people over whom its power is exercised. 

There are only three ways by which one set of men 
acquire power over others — By divine authority, by 
the election of the people to be governed, or by usur- 
pation. Usurped authority, maintained as well a? 

* Psalm xciv. 20. 



THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. Cl 

originally acquired by force, is immoral. Divine 
right cannot be pleaded without a divine revelation to 
support it ; it follows of course that the choice of 
the subject is necessary in the constitution of civil 
order, to confer legitimate authority upon the ruler. 
" The blood royal," " the ancient sovereigns," " the 
rights of the crown," " the throne of his ancestors," 
are all fine and captivating expressions from the lips 
of an orator, to amuse and deceive the thoughtless : 
but have they any meaning? Do they convey any 
idea worthy of a man of sense and magnanimity ? 
Have they any allurements for a good christian? 
No. They are only dazzling ornaments without so- 
lidity and without worth. I lay it down as an axiom 
in political morality, that true representation is 
essential to lawful power ; and that in all cases in 
which the Deity does not immediately interpose to 
appoint, the depositaries of power, the choice of a 
representative belongs to the members of the com- 
munity. Divide power as you will ; make the arm 
of authority weak or strong, as suits your purpose ; 
call your chief magistrate King, Consul, Emperor, 
President, Governor, or whatsoever else you please ; 
form your legislative councils of one or of many 
chambers ; let your courts, your judges, your offi- 
cers of law, be many or few : but maintain the prin- 
ciple of representation inviolate ; for a representa- 
tive democracy is the ordinance of god. 

The representative system is supported by the au- 
thority of common sense — by decisions of scripture — 
by the general voice of the nations of the earth. 



»I2 THE MORAL CHARACTER OF 

First. Men, with common sense as their guide, in 
.ill the voluntary associations which they form, act 
upon this principle. 

They appoint their chairman, their scribe, their 
treasurer, their managers, their committees, at plea- 
sure. In all free cities; in all benevolent institu- 
tions, whether composed of males or females ; in all 
meetings for the diffusion of literary knowledge, for 
hilarity, or for business, this is the common course of 
procedure : and why deny the application of com- 
mon sense to national associations for the mainten- 
ance of order under municipal law, and the defence 
of the state from foreign violence ? 

Second. Divine revelation inculcates and exem- 
plifies the system of representation. 

God deals with us, upon a knowledge of the frame 
of our minds and the character of our faculties ; and 
he directs us, so, also, to deal with one another. The 
representative system appears in the two great es- 
tablishments of heaven, in relation to mankind, — the co- 
venant of works and the covenant of grace. There 
is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And 
so it is written, The Jirst man, Adam, was made a 
1 1 ring soul, the last Adam was made a quickening spi-> 
rit. The first man is of the earth, earthy • the second 
nan is the Lord from heaven. And as is the earthy, 
< h an they also that are earthy ; and as is the hca- 
nly, such are they also that are heavenly.* 

* 1 Cor. sv. 44—48. 



THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 63 

In the administrations of divine grace, as well as 
in the formation of his covenant, Jehovah directe 
human society by his holy word to act upon the 
principle of representation ; and he guarantees, by 
divine right, to that part of the rational family, who 
are peculiarly under his care, a system of social or- 
der corresponding therewith. Although he appoints 
ecclesiastical officers, he gives the right of choice to 
the people over whom they rule. In the exercise of 
authority, ecclesiastical officers meet, and appoint 
their own order and agents. In the government di- 
vinely provided for the church of God, we have the 
best evidence of the manner in which he will have 
his rational creatures to act, in the formation of all 
their social institutions. The church is by divine 
right a Republic: such a system of government is of 
course the wisest and the best. 

In civil affairs, as well as in ecclesiastical, the same 
principles of order are inculcated in Scripture. The 
law for the election of rulers, and for trial of their 
conduct, implies the right of election, and removal 
from office. The practice illustrates the law. We 
read, it is true, of kings, and of kings designated to 
office by immediate revelation. But the executive 
officers of Judah and Israel, although called kings, 
were placed under a law, and liable to deposition on 
account of mal-administration. These kings, even 
when nominated by the Lord, were still recognized 
as the representatives, or agents of the common- 
wealth, and subject to removal from office by the 
community whensoever they abused their trust. The 



04 THE MORAL CHARACTER OF 

covenant of God with David, I admit, did author- 
ize the regal succession in the family of the son of 
Jesse ; but that succession was never regulated by 
primogeniture, so much as by actual qualification 
for power. And it would be as absurd, now that 
Messiah is come, to whom that arrangement pointed, 
to plead in behalf of royal blood, as to require, after 
the example of the house of Aaron, that the minis- 
try of the church should be subjected to hereditary 
succession. 

Abimelech is the first king of whom we read among 
the Israelites, and he was made so by the men of 
ShechemJ* The men of Israel had ofiered the sover- 
eignty to Gideon ; but, while he admitted their pow- 
er of making the election, he refused their ofler.f 
When Saul was placed upon the throne, the institu- 
tion of the monarchy, and the actual election of the 
incumbent, were the acts of the people of Israel, al- 
though the Lord pointed out the man.J David, Solo- 
mon, and Rehoboam, Uzziah and Josiah, received 
the kingdom by consent of the community. All the 
kings of Israel and Judah were subject to the con- 
stitution and the law; obliged to act with the advice 
of the Sanhedrim, the great council of elders ; to 
preserve, in their rights, the lesser Sanhedrims of the 
several cities, all of which were regularly elected to 
office ; and in default, these kings were punished of 
the Lord, by divine judgments, and of the people 

* Jndgei ix. f Judg.viii. 21—23. f 1 Sam. xu. 12— 20. 

ilos. xiii. 10. 



THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. Qj 

by deposition, as in the case of Uzziah, or by death, 
as in that of his father Amaziah, king of Judah.* 



* The celebrated Mr. Prynnc, who valiantly contended in the 
British parliament for religion and liberty, under the reign of 
Charles I. and who vindicated, with his pen, the rights of the peo- 
ple upon scriptural principles, treats at great length upon this sub- 
ject. After a learned and full examination of the history of the 
kings of Judah and Israel, he adds, " From all these texts, compar- 
ed with Prov. xi. 14. & xv. 22. & xxv. 5. it is most apparent, that 
they were no absolute sovereign princes, paramount to their whole 
kingdoms, or the general senate or congregation of the people, or their 
sanhedrim ; but inferior to them in power ; and not only counselled, 
but overruled usually, by them, in all matters of public concern- 
ment." Sov. Power of Pari. p. 141. 

Zuinglius, the first herald of the reformation, says, that " the peo- 
ple of Israel, although they called a king, reserved to themselves suf- 
ficient authority to overrule their king in those things which seemed 
needful for the public welfare. The kings of the Jews, and others, 
might be lawfully deposed by the people. If the king be created by 
common suffrages, he may again be deprived by common votes, un- 
less they will be punished with him." Tom. I. Art. 42. quoted by 
Prynne. 

The learned Stephanus J. Brutus, in his Vendicia, contra lyran- 
tws, in answer to Machiavel, writes, " As all the people are supe- 
rior to the king, so are those officers of state who represent them 
collectively considered. In the kingdom of Israel they had elders 
and captains elected out of all the tribes, who had the care of the 
commonwealth, both in peace and in war — neither could any thing 
be determined without their advice, which much concerned the 
commonwealth. And because they represented all the people, all 
the people are then said to have assembled together." Quest. 3. p. 
04—97. 

Sigonius is the last writer I shall quote, in this connexion. " The 
kings of the Israelites were created by the suffrages of the people — 
although the kingdom of Judah was in a sense hereditary, yet it 
wa3 confirmed by the suffrages of the people." Rep. Heb. Lib. 7. 
Cap. ?,. 

9 



60 THE MORAL CHARACTER OF 

In the third place, The general practice of na- 
tions, even where monarchy existed, is in support of 
the principle of representation. Kingly govern- 
ment is obviously, as the learned Selden, a member 
of the Westminster Assembly, calls it, a heathen insti- 
tution ; but the king was considered as the agent of 
the public will. The history of every nation will 
serve to show, that I do not make the assertion with- 
out authority. The greatest tyrants have been in the 
habit of considering themselves as representing the na- 
tion over which they ruled ; and in the present age, the 
high claims of arbitrary power tend, only, like the fa- 
bles of Pagan mythology, and the fairy tales of a 
ruder superstition, to decorate, with splendid image- 
ry, poetry and romance ; or, when introduced art- 
fully, into popular declamation, to flatter aspiring 
minds, and deceive the simple. The treaty of Paris 
abundantly shows that crowned heads no longer de- 
pend on the divine right of hereditary succession, 
Ferdinand is recognized, during the life-time of his 
deposed father, on the throne of Spain. Murat and 
Bernadotte are permitted to occupy the kingdoms of 
living fugitives of the blood royal ; and since the 
partition of Poland, successful usurpation is a better 
title than carnal descent. If the principle of repre- 
64 ntation is forgotten, hereditary right is less de- 
P< ii< led on, than possession by force of arms. Such, 
alas! i- the unprincipled condition of the masters of 
the European world.* 

That the representative system, in a greater or less degree. 
met will, (he views or the several nations, is obvious from the 
fforki ol the ahlest writers. Andrew Home, an eminent English 



THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 67 

If 1 have succeeded in showing, that representa- 
tion is essential to lawful rule, I shall take less of 
your time in proving, that the practice of the British 
constitution is, when weighed in this balance, found 
wanting. 



lawyer in the reign or Edward I. says, " A king is created and 
elected to do justice, that the first kings of England had thirty-eight 
companions, comiles, or counts, the first officers of so many counties, 
who collectively representing the whole kingdom, were above the 
king." 

Chancellor Forlescue, in a work addressed to Henry VI. describes 
the kingdom as a body politic, of which the king is head, and the 
public will the heart or seat of life. " The king cannot change 
the laws of that body, or withdraw their substance from them 
against their wills. He is ordained for the defence of the laws. He 
receiveth power from his people. Of th^ir own free will they sub- 
mitted to the government of a king, only to the end that they might 
thereby maintain themselves with more safety." De Laud. Reg. 
Cap. 9. 

Salamonius uses these words, " The whole kiugdom and people 
are the original supreme sovereign power, by whose common con- 
sent and authority, all lawful kings and kingdoms were at first 
created and instituted, and from whom they derived all their regal 
jurisdiction." Sal. de Principals, Lib. I. p. 1—6. 

Groiius represents the people as originally, sui juris, entitled to 
dispose of the government as they shall think meet — " it being a 
thing in its own nature not capable of an occupancy, nor seizable 
by any, unless the people will voluntarily desert their own liberty." 
De Jure.bel. andpac. I. 3. c. 15. 

" Now verily, since kings are constituted by the people, all the 
people are better and greater than the king. He who receiveth au- 
thority from another is inferior to his author. In the republic, which 
is compared to a ship, the king is the captain, the people the 
owner. To him, holding the helm, the people submit, when not- 
withstanding he ought to be accounted a servant" Jim. BruU 
Vindi. con. lyrran, quest. 3. p. 41. 



63 THE MORAL CHARACTER OF 

The king, it is admitted, cannot do wrong. He is 
not accountable. He succeeds to the throne accord- 
ing to primogeniture. Be he wise or simple ; good 
or bad, by the constitution of that country, which 
has superior pretensions to good sense and to morali- 
ty, the first-born of royal blood ascends the chair of 
state ; and, without the least regard to capacity or 
to character, he is chief magistrate and head of the 
church. This is notorious. Such a monarch cannot 
be considered as the true representative of the king- 
dom. The Lords spiritual and temporal, have little 
of the principle stated above as necessary to lawful 
rule, and the House of Commons is far from being a 
true representation of the people. 

The population of the united kingdoms amounts, 
according to the latest accounts, to about fifteen mil- 
lions. Very few of these are represented in parlia- 
ment. The whole of the members returned to that 
great court of the empire, have received, probably, 
less than three hundred thousand votes. These suf- 
frages are commonly bought and sold as any other 
article in the market. The ministry can always se- 
cure a large majority. The parliament is a repre- 
sentation of a few powerful and opulent families ; 
and these only serve to give the appearance of popu- 
larity to the paramount influence of the monarchy, as 
employed by the immediate servants of the crown.* 

Thp population of Great Britain and Ireland, is computed at 
fifteen millions. Of these, upwards of two are paupers. Upwards 
pf one half the remainder is of the female sex. And of the males 
of mature years, which cannot be computed as far exceeding three 



THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. G9 

2. The British constitution of government, is a 
superstitions combination of civil and ecclesiastical 
power. 

The king is head and sovereign of the church. 
The bishops of the church are lords of the land, and 
members of the legislature, and judges of the law. 
By order of both, the most solemn of the ordinances 
of the Lord our God is continually profaned: and 
all this is essential to the constitution of the govern- 
ment. These facts are notorious : and there is not 
upon the face of the earth greater iniquity. 

The king is head of the church. " Our lawyers 
pronounce that the king of England unites in his 
person, the dignity of chief magistrate, with the 
sanctity of a priest ; and the title of Sacred Majesty, 
appears to have commenced, when he assumed the 



millions, one out of six is in the pay of government. The offices 
in church and state, in the army, the navy, and the colonies, are 
filled by not less than half a million of men, deriving from the 
patronage of the crown not less than one hundred millions of dol- 
lars a year. These have friends and connexions ; and there are 
many office-hunters depending upon the patronage of the crown. 
The evil is of course enormous. Scarcely will one hundred thou- 
sand independent electors be found in the united kingdoms. In 
England there are only, altogether, one hundred and sixty thou- 
sand freeholders. King's Tables. 

" What then, 1 ' I use the words of a distinguished patriot of the re. 
volution, " What is the majority of their parliament, but a flagitious 
combination of ministerial hirelings, conspired to erect the Babel 
of despotism upon the ruins of the beautiful fabric of law." Gov, 
Livingston. 



70 THE MORAL CHARACTER OF 

function of head of the church."* He, as sovereign 
of the ecclesiastical body, calls at pleasure his clergy 
together, and dissolves their meetings when they 
have executed his will : he fdls up vacancies among 
his bishops ; and he presents to their livings and their 
tithes over his subjects, the inferior clergy, unless 
the patronage be vested in subordinate hands. He, 
by his pontifical and royal sanction, confi rs the cha- 
racter of truth to his own faithful subjects upon arti- 
cles of faith, whatever they may be in themselves : he 
confers upon ceremonies, however frivolous, the vir- 
tue of being significant and edifying : he constitutes 
a government, however arbitrary, pure and aposto- 
lical: in a word, he defends, he tolerates, he perse- 
cutes, according to the constitution of the establish- 
ment over which he presides with papal magnifi- 
cence. And yet, O my God and my Redeemer, to 
such a monarchy, with all its impious usurpation of 
the rights of God, do any of thy disciples profess an 
attachment ? Ah ! how frail a thing is man ! 

Again, according to the British constitution, 
bishops of the church are, by virtue of their office, 
members of parliament and judges of the law. They 
are Lords spiritual, occupying a seat in the upper 
house of legislation; and the house of lords is the 
ultimate tribunal of justice. The privileges of the 
spiritual lords exceed those of the other peers of the 
realm. They hold courts of their own, of which 
they are the sole judges : they issue writs in a pecu- 

* Pinkerton. 



THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 71 

liar style, and in their own name : they alone can 
depute to others their authority ; and the judges of 
the king cannot sit within the diocese of some of 
them without the bishop's permission.* Such then, 
is this constitution, that while the king is supreme 
head of the church, the prelates of the church are 
an essential part of the legislature and judiciary of 
the empire. 

Is this right ? Is this scriptural ? Is this agreeable 
to the example of our Lord — conformable to the 
spirit of religion — corresponding with apostolical ex- 
ample ? And is it thus, my hearers, that men would 
exemplify the doctrine, my kingdom is not of this 
world ? I, as a minister of Christ, have to reason with 
you in defence of the right of making a few political 
remarks ; and I cannot flatter myself that I have suc- 
ceeded with you all, in procuring a patient hearing : 
and yet, those ministers of religion, who neglect the 
paths of the Lord, and are themselves become lords 
of the land, and of God's heritage, enjoy your sym- 
pathy : to that government you are attached, and, at 
me, you are displeased for examining its character. 
Bear with me, brethren, I would not wound your feel- 
ings unnecessarily. I even sympathize with you in 
your political obliquities. Man is frail. Even Abra- 
ham besought the Lord for Sodom ; and the Lord dealt 
tenderly with his servant, though he destroyed the 
cities of the plain. I ask of you but the liberty of 
saying to this part of the system of British power, 
Tekel — Thou art found wanting. 

* Chamber, 63 — GS. Blacksione, b. 1. c. II. 



72 THE MORAL CHARACTER OF 

If more be necessary to justify me in this applica- 
tion of the text, it will be found in the practice, re- 
quired by the combined and impious power of 
church and state over the British empire — the admi- 
nistration of the sacramental test. 

What would you think of an ordinance from the 
congress of the United States, requiring all officers 
upon the civil and military list, under pain of dis- 
mission, to take the sacrament? What would you say 
to a demand upon Presbyterians, and Independents, 
and Baptists, &c. to forego their own religious pro- 
fession, and take the communion from Episcopal 
hands ? What would you say of an act of congress that 
required the prostitution of the Lord's Supper, to 
the profane, and the ignorant, and the infidel ? What 
would you say to me, if instead of thus addressing 
you, I should be so far disposed to make traffic of 
my ministry, as to accept of an appointment and an 
equipage, and sit with the consecrated elements at 
the door of the capitol, to administer the body and 
the blood of the Lord, to the whole tribe of office- 
hunters who dance attendance in the hall of power? 
Could you approve of this ? would you tolerate me in 
it ! would the rulers of our land require such a profa- 
nation ? would this community bear it ? would the 
ministers of the church submit to it? It is practised 
in England. It is the law of that land. It is authorized, 
it is demanded by the government. It is observed 
by the ministers. This prostitution is the door of ad- 
mission to power.* Shall I not visit for these things ? 

• Stat. 25. Car. II. Cap. 2. 



THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 73 

saith the Lord ; and shall not my soul be avenged on 
such a nation as this ?* 

3. The British government is a branch of the gene- 
ral antichristian apostacy. 

The opposition to the great protestant doctrine in 
relation to antichrist, which the English commenta- 
tors of more recent date have carried on, found its 
only support in the terror produced by the French 
revolution. Mr. Faber is, by far, the most plausible 
of those writers, who have represented that nation 
under the Emperor Napoleon, as the last head 

* Mr. John Newton, a minister of the church of England, 
preached a sermon on this text in the parish church of St. Mary 
Woolnoth, Feb. 21, 1731, in which he spoke as follows: " The 
Test and Corporation Acts, which require every person who has a 
post under government, or a commission in the army or navy, to 
qualify himself for his office, by receiving the sacrament of the 
Lord's Supper, would occasion no sin, if men were generally influ- 
enced by the fear of God, or even a principle of integrity. They 
would then rather decline places of honour or profit, than accept 
of them upon such terms. We frequently see professed infidels, 
and notorious libertines, approach the Lord's Table as a matter of 
course, and prostitute the most solemn ordinance of Christianity to 
their ambition or interest. I am afraid we have been long guilty 
of a contemptuous profanation of the body and blood of Christ." 
Vol. V. pp. 3, 5. 

" A man cannot be an exciseman, a custom-house officer, a lieu- 
tenant in the army or navy, no, not so much as a tide-waiter, with- 
out putting on the most distinguishing badge of Christianity, ac- 
cording to the usage of the church of England. Is not this a strong 
temptation to profanation and hypocrisy ? Does it not pervert one 
of the most solemn institutions of religion ?" Neal's Hist. Pur. 
Vol. IF. p. 539. 

]0 



74 THE MORAL CHARACTER OF 

of the great apostacy ; and at whose downfal, by 
the judgments of the seventh vial, the Millen- 
nium was to commence. This system of interpreta- 
tion is now exploded. The empire of Buonaparte 
is no more ; and yet the Millennium does not ap- 
pear. The manners of men are as they were. Ig- 
norance still prevails. Tyranny and superstition 
are sufficiently obvious. The church is in the wil- 
derness ; and although the Bourbons are restored, 
Europe is unsettled ; and still antichrist reigns. 

According to the unanimous opinion of all the 
protectant expositors, not excepting the English 
themselves, that country has once been one of the ten 
horns of the apocalyptical beast, influenced by Sa- 
tan, the dragon.* This could not be disputed, be- 
cause the land was geographically within the 
bounds of the Latin Roman empire ; and the peo- 
ple had submitted to the Latin Roman religion. 

Some indeed allege, that, at the reformation, the 
connexion of Britain with the beast was dissolved ; 
but, the scripture prediction does not justify the ex- 
pectation that any of the great powers of Europe 
should be severed from that connexion, for centuries, 
or even any considerable time, before the general 
destruction of the man of sin. The history of that 
country, the tyranny and superstition of Henry 
VIII ; the persecutions carried on against the saints, 
during the continuance of the succession in the 
Stuart race; and the terrible bloodshed caused by 

* Rev. jsiii. 



THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. T5 

Charles II. and James, his successor and brother, 
both Popish tyrants, completely set aside the idea 
of England's ceasing to be a horn of the beast, be- 
fore the revolution of 1688, under William of Hol- 
land. Nor does that event itself justify the suppo- 
sition. Much was certainly gained by it to the 
cause of both religion and liberty. The tyranny of 
the throne, and the persecutions arising from it, 
were mitigated, but not abolished. If protestant 
blood does not flow as formeily, the saints, in that, 
country, the successors of the martyrs, still labour 
under the frowns of power, marked by ecclesiastical 
and civil pains and disabilities. 

No country, it, appears from the prospective histo- 
ry afforded in prophecy, which was once in connex- 
ion with the beast, is to be perfectly separated from 
the great apostacy until the seventh vial shall have 
poured out its plagues. The fifth has shaken the con- 
nexion by the partial reformation of several nations ; 
but in no instance has the connexion been complete- 
ly and permanently dissolved. 

Prophecy excludes the idea, of considering the Bri- 
tish empire as removed from the Latin Earth : and, the 
character of its government, as shown under the pre- 
ceding articles, demonstrates its antichristianism. 
The English establishment is, itself, of a beastly na- 
ture. An unhallowed connexion between church and 
state, in which civil liberty suffers, and true religion 
is prostituted, can never be reconciled with that U- 



i*<; 



76 THE MORAL CHARACTER Oi 

berty wherewith Christ has made us free. It is an an- 
tichrist ian polity. I add to these a third argument, 
drawn from the consideration of recent events. The 
present king did take, as the condition of the crown 
of Corsica, an oath to support the Popish religion;* 
and he is at the head of the establishment of the same 
faith in the province of Lower Canada, in connexion 
with the church of England. By his arms, by the 
wealth of his empire, and by the blood of his sub- 
jects, he has proved the principal stay of the anti- 
christian polity in Europe. The restoration of the 
Bourbons, of the Pope, and of the Inquisition, suffi- 
ciently show that he is in fact a pillar of the great 
throne of the man of sin. The British government, 
once a branch of the apostacy, still within the 
bounds of the symbolical earth, actually antichris- 
tian in its own character, and now the chief stay of 
the beast's authority, must necessarily be considered 
as continuing to be one of the ten kings or horns, 
which agree to give their power to the great cor- 
ruption of moral order in the world. 

The guilt of a nation, or an individual, is in pro- 
portion to the privileges enjoyed, and the actual im- 
morality. That country was the most, favoured of 
tht' nations. None had attained to so much Ymht 
and reformation. It was once, although only by 
compulsion on the part of the crown and the prelacy, 
in solemn league and covenant with God. It has 

* 1 794, 



THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 7.7 

broken, like treacherous Judah, and backsliding Is- 
rael, its covenant ; it has shed, like Chaldea, the blood 
of the martyrs ; and, although persecution unto 
death hath ceased, this apostate nation still persists in 
the course of policy which the persecutor intro- 
duced — a course of opposition to true religion and 
regular ecclesiastical order. Ye are the children of 
them that killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the mea- 
sure of your fathers.* In applying the sacred mea- 
sure to every branch of the apostacy, we cannot but 
pronounce it wanting. 

4. The British government is Erastian in its con- 
stitution and administration. 

The expression, Erastian, is not so well under- 
stood in this country, where the practice is happily 
in a great measure unknown, as in the European 
world, where it almost universally prevails. Certain 
systems, both of religion and of human science, are, 
sometimes, stamped with the names of distinguished 
men, who appear in their illustration and defence, 
although the principles themselves may have had a 
very different origin. The names of Calvin and 
Arminius, are attached to systems which existed since 
the introduction of Christianity to the fallen world. 
We speak of the Newtonian Philosophy, of Galvan- 
ism, &c. because the laws of nature, ancient as crea- 
tion itself, were illustrated in an able manner bv men 
of such names. The phrase Erastian often occurs 

* Math, xxiii. 31. 



7U THE MORAL CHARACTER OF 

in the history of British controversies about religion 
and government. 

Thomas Eraslus was both a divine and physician. 
He was learned and active, and influential among the 
distinguished men of that very remarkable age in 
which lie lived : an age, which roused by an extra- 
ordinary impulse, the human mind from the lethargy 
under which it had long laboured — the era of the 
reformation. Born in Baden of Switzerland, in the 
year 1624, and educated in Bazil and Bologna, he 
practised physic at the court of the elector Palatine, 
and became professor in the university of Heidel- 
berg. In his book on Excommunication, he deve- 
lopes those principles which have since been called 
by his name. That Christ and his apostles prescrib- 
ed no forms of discipline for the church — that the 
supreme ecclesiastical power belongs to the civil 
magistrate — that ministers are only teachers pos- 
sessed of the right of public persuasion — That to the 
government of the state belongs the right of admit- 
ting members into the church, and excluding them 
from it — That the church of Christ is a department 
of the civil commonwealth, are the sentiments of 
Erastus. These have always been the prevailing 
sentiments of the court of Great Britain, since the 
time of Henry VIII. The clergy of the church of 
England, from Cranmer to Whitgift* were of Eras- 



■ cc 



Bishop Warburton informs us, from Selden de Syncdriis, that 
Erastus's famous book de cxcommunicalione was purchased by Whit- 
gift, of Erastu>'s widow in Germany, and put by him to tbe press in 
London, under fictitious names of both the place and the printer/' 
Supplemental Vol. Warbwrt. Works, p. 473. 



THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT, 76 

iian principles. Bancroft was the first to maintain 
the divine right of the episcopacy ; and even since 
his day, the great body of the English hierarchy 
view the church " as a mere creature of the stale"* 
Indeed, the Puritans themselves, both the ministers 
and the members of Parliament, were willing at first 
to subscribe, with but little variation, to Erastian sen- 
timents, although disposed to a greater degree of 
liberty, in religion and civil concerns, than was 
consistent with the pleasure of the court and the 
bishops.f It was not, until the Scottish commission- 
ers explained, in the Assembly of Divines, the true 
polity of the church of God, as a spiritual empire, 
having its own officers and laws, under the head 
Jesus Christ, that the English ministers fully under- 
stood the distinction.:!: To the faithful labours of the 

* These are the words of Ncal, in his history or the Puritans, 
who also confirms the remarks I have made. Vol. J. p. 510. 

f This was the substance of the petition signed by seven hun- 
dred ministers in the year 1641. The parliament were of the 
same mind, and claimed the power of reforming the church as an 
inherent right. 

| In that venerable Assembly of Divines, which compiled our 
admirable Confession of Faith and other ecclesiastical standards, the 
very learned Selden had a seat. He, assisted by the counsel, and 
the rabinnical learning of Coleman and Light foot, and supported 
by the national feelings, and the prejudices or opinions of the par- 
liament, argued the cause of Erastianism in the grand debate 
upon ecclesiastical order. The question excited immense interest ; 
the whole church, a great nation, awaited the result with anxiety, 

George Gillespie, one of the ministers of Edinburgh, and a com- 
missioner to the Assembly from the church of Scotland, was ob- 
served to be engaged occasionally with his pen, while Selden spoke. 
It was supposed he was taking notes of the argument. He, too. 



(30 THE MORAL CHARACTER OF 

church of Scotland, the christian world is indebted, 
under the blessing of God, for the prevalence of a 

was learned, and of great reading; but he was young, pious, mo- 
dest, and a stranger in London. He had not acquired celebrity. 
Some of the most grave and pious divines had a previous opportuni- 
ty of satisfying themselves as to his views of divine truth. They 
knew the sentiments of the church which he represented, to be 
anti-erasiian. They went to his chair, and requested him to speak. 
Thy inquired if he had taken notes. He was silent. They saw 
the paper on which he had written. The only words upon it 
were, give light, Lord, and direction. These were often re- 
peated. " Rise, George," said a venerable friend, " Rise and de- 
fend your principles, your country, your church, and the kingdom 
of your God — Rise up, man, and defend the right of the Lord Je- 
aus Christ to govern, by his own laws, the church which he pur- 
chased with his blood. Mr. Gillespie complied. Ee began by giv- 
ing a summary of the argument of his learned antagonist, distin- 
guishing the several principles which it involved, and then request- 
ed to be corrected if he made an unfair statement. Selden replied, 
if Mr. Gillespie will refute these principles with the same accura- 
cy with which he has stated them, the controversy is over. Mr. 
Gillespie had in his hand a two-edged sword. He contended suc- 
cessfully for the prerogatives of his Redeemer's crown, and the in- 
dependency of Christ's kingdom. He triumphed. Mr. Selden 
himself observed, with astonishment, " This young man by his 
speech has swept away the learning and labour of my life." Eras- 
tianism was condemned, and presbytery established by the West- 
minster Assembly. 

The parliament was unwilling to yield. There, Mr. Selden had 
also a seat. His hand was seen in the scruples and delays employ- 
ed in the House of Commons against the establishment of the pres- 
byterian regimen. The Scottish commissioners remonstrated. The 
London ministers also petitioned. Commissioners from parliament 
met -.vitha committee of the Assembly; but to the exertious of Mr. 
/ Undn -son, another of the Scottish commissioners; supported by the 
voice ol Scotland, and the fear of losing the co-operation of the 
Scottish army in the war against the royalists, the reluctant ac- 
qnieroence of the English Parliament is to be ascribed. 



THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 31 

principle, now universally understood, and, in this 
country, reduced to practice by all ecclesiastical 
bodies — that the church is a distinct society, with an 
organisation of its own. This important doctrine is 
of divine authority. Its truth hath been attested by 
the blood of the martyrs : and the kingdoms, which 
oppose this part of the faith delivered to the saints, 
are guilty of rebellion against the King of kings, and 
Lord of lords. 

The Erastianism of the present British constitu- 
tion of government, will now be made apparent. 

The civil government makes the established 
church, with the king as its supreme head, an essen- 
tial part of the national polity — It settles, by Parlia- 
mentary law, the condition of ministerial fellowship — 
It determines the faith to be professed — It prescribes 
forms of prayer to be offered from the pulpit — It 
inflicts the severest censures of the church — and ex- 
ercises, exclusively, the power of convoking the su- 
perior judicatories. Read, for yourselves, the re- 
ferences which I make, and then decide upon the ac- 
curacy of this statement. 

The church, under the headship of the reigning 
prince, whether male or female, it matters not, is, in 
fact, a department of the state. 

The British monarch has assumed all that power 
in his dominions " over all persons and all causes, 
whether civil or ecclesiastic," which the Pope claim- 

11 



,;_ THE MORAL CHARACTER OF 

cd ; and the Parliament have secured by statute this 
prerogative of the crown. The declaration of 
George I. who styles himself Defender of the Faith, 
and Supreme Governor of the Church in his domin- 
ions, proceeding upon this principle, requires that 
the clergy, before they can settle any differences about 
the external polity of the church, must first obtain 
leave under his broad seal.* 

It is provided by the treaty of union between Eng- 
land and Scotland, that the church of England, with 
all the civil power given into the hands of the prela- 
cy, shall be preserved entire, and this is declared to 
be an essential fundamental part of the union. The 
temporal power of the lords spiritual, the spiritual 
supremacy of the monarch, together with the pros- 
titution of the most distinguishing badge of christian 
profession in the sacramental test, prove beyond a 
doubt that the church and state are combined into 
one great corrupt and impious system of misrule : 
and justifies the charge of Erastianism against the 
British Constitution. 



In the Act for an union of the two kingdoms of 
England and Scotland, provision is made for render- 
ing the English hierarchy perpetual: and the church 
of Scotland, although in form Presbyterian, has been 
constrained to submit to Erastianism, not merely by 
her members supporting the English religious esta- 
blishment ; but also, as essential to their own. The 

Doc deorere I. June 13th, 1715. 



THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 03 

Scottish establishment is itself Erastian. The civil 
power settles the condition of ministerial fellowship 
in the church. At the revolution, king William ad- 
dressed letters patent to both the Presbyterian and 
Episcopalian clergy, determining the conditions up- 
on which they must join together. In the letter of 
February 1690, addressed to the General Assembly, 
his Majesty says to the highest judicatory of the 
the church, " We have thought good to signify our 
pleasure to you, that you make no distinction of men, 
otherwise well qualified for the ministry, who are 
willing to join with you in the acknowledgment of, 
and submission to the government of church and slate, 
as it is by law now established, though they have 
formerly complied to the introducing of episcopa- 
cy ; and that ye give them no disturbance upon that 
head." 

In the letter of the 15th June thereafter, it is or- 
dained, " That neither the Assembly, nor any com- 
mission or church meeting, do meddle in any process 
or business that may concern the purging out of 
episcopal ministers." 

In the letter of January 1692, to the episcopal 
clergy, the language is equally dictatorial. " We 
doubt not of your applying to, and heartily meeting 
and concurring with your brethren, the Presbyterian 
ministers, in the terms which we have been at pains 
to adjust for you." 

It is provided, too, by act of parliament, " Thai 
none be admitted or continued ministers, who do not 



ol THE MORAL CHARACTER OK 

take the oaths thereby prescribed, and observe uni- 
formity of worship, <fec. as the same are, or shall be 
allowed by authority of parliament."* 

The civil power determines, of its own accord, the 
rule of faith to be professed by those ministers who 
are thus admitted or continued, and for the whole 
church in which they serve. Without ever calling 
an Assembly, and without any reference to former 
ecclesiastical acts, the parliament read and voted the 
Westminster Confession of Faith as the public con- 
fession of both church and nation.f 

The king and parliament, no doubt, with the aid 
of the Lords spiritual, have provided for all the 
clergy of the Presbyterian establishment, the form 
of prayer to be used for the king and Hie royal 
family ; and it must be used under pain of exclusion 
from the ministry of the church.J Nor is this tin- 
only case in which the civil power assumes the right 
of deposing ministers from the pastoral charge, how 
ever well they may be received by their people, and 
however great the attachment between them and 
their flocks. Ministers who did not appear before a 
certain day prescribed by the act,? "are hereby, ipso 
facto, deprived of their respective kirks and sti- 
pends, and the same declared vacant without, any 
further sentence." Under a similar penalty, queen 
\nnc enforced the oath of abjuration. George I. 

1 William and Mary, Par. 1. Scss. 4. Act 23. f Par. 1690. 
1 1005, Act 23. 1700, Act 2. and 1706, Act 6. 
- A.t 27. Scss. 5. Pari. 1. William and Mary, 



THE BRITISH HO VtBNAIE^T. 85 

extended the requisition to students on trial, to 
schoolmasters, and to all masters in the universities.* 
George II. required an actf relative to a certain 
Capt. Porteus, to be read from all the pulpits in 
Scotland, once on every Lord's day for a whole 
year, " and in case," the act of parliament says, 
" such minister shall neglect to read this act, he shall 
for the first offence be declared incapable of sitting 
or voting in any church judicatory ; and for the se- 
cond offence, be declared incapable of taking, hold- 
ing, or enjoying any ecclesiastical benefice." 

The exercise of Erastian supremacy extends to 
the settlement of ministers in a congregation. It is 
not there, as in this country. The people do not 
elect their own pastor. The appointment is vested 
originally in the crown, although usually transferred 
into a few of the most noble and wealthy in the 
land. The patron gives the church to his friend ; 
and if the people make any opposition, a company 
of armed men induct the pastor into office. " The 
Pope," said a distinguished lawyer, "claimed the right 
of the patronage of every kirk, to which no third party 
could show a special title ; but since the reforma- 
tion, the crown, as coming in place of the Pope, is 
considered as universal patron, where no right of 
patronage appears in a subject."J 

I have only further to observe, that the king sum- 
mons at his pleasure, the supreme judicatories of the 

* Act 6. 1706. f Act 1737. 

\ Erskine'sPrin. Law of Scot, Book I. Tit. 5, 



HIE MORAL CHARACTER Of 

church; adjourns and dissolves them as much as the 
civil legislature. In ordinary cases, they who com- 
pose the General Assembly, are sufficiently obse- 
quious, and are of course permitted to meet and de- 
part at a certain season of the year without compul- 
sion : but instances have repeatedly occurred, when 
the fact was otherwise, and the uniform tenor of the 
commission under which they meet, maintains the 
supremacy of the crown.* 

I dismiss this disagreeable subject, with a quota- 
tion from the public records of two respectable bo- 
dies of professed christians in the British empire. 
From their words you will immediately perceive, 
that while 1 am describing the Erastianism of the 
constitution of government, I speak the language, 
not of an individual, but of churches, even in that 
country. 

I begin with the judicial declaration of the seces- 
sion church. 

" It is peculiarly incumbent upon every civil state 
whereunto Christianity is introduced, to study and 
bring to pass, thai civil government among them, in all 
the appurtenances of its constitution and administra- 
tion, run in an agreeableness to the word of God ; be 
subservient unto the spiritual kingdom of Jesus 
Christ, and to the interests of the true religion. By 
the good hand of God, the estates of England, but 

The style is, " Thus seeing hj our decree, an Assembly is to 
meet, cCc." 



THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 87 

more especially of Scotland, were inspired with a 
noble and predominant zeal for the house of God, in 
all its valuable institutions : and attained to a consi- 
derable pitch of civil reformation subservient to the 
same. It is observable that in Scotland, the reforma- 
tion of the church hath always, in a beautiful order, 
preceded and introduced the reformation of the state." 

" It was not long, till this beautiful work was smo- 
thered, by the woful apostacy at, and after, the re- 
storation of king Charles II." 

" The fatal overthrow of the former civil refor- 
mation ; the devastation of the house and heritage of 
God; the unparalleled course of perjury, treachery, 
tyranny, against the King, cause, and subjects of 
Zion, and against the liberties of mankind ; are laid 
open in the act and testimony. It is to be feared, 
the guilt thereof is still lying upon the throne, the bo- 
dy politic, and all ranks in these lands." 

" Thus our ancient civil reformation has been 
apostatized from, and grievously defaced — great 
guilt and wrath from the Lord is still lying and in- 
creasing upon the body politic. Moreover, as our 
civil settlement has been thus corrupted, so it hath 
natively issued in a course of defective and corrupt 
administrations. All the legal securities given to 
this church, from 1638 to 1650, were overlooked; 
such were retained in places of public trust, and in 
military office, as were enemies to our reformation, 
and had been deeply involved in the horrid defec- 



88 THE MORAL CHARACTER OF 

lion, persecution, and bloodshed of the former period. 
The power and privileges of the church were en- 
croached upon, as indeed by the act 1592, according 
to which presbytery was settled at the revolution, 
the Assembly is deprived of power, where the king 
or his commissioner are present, to nominate and 
appoint time and place for their next meeting." 

A very sinful and sad encroachment was made 
upon the costly and valuable privileges of the Lord's 
people, and a door opened for the corruption of the 
church, and the ruin of souls, while the right of 
patronages, which had been abolished in the year 
16-19, was again restored. This kingdom hath be- 
come subject to a parliament, whereof the bishops 
of England are constituent members ; and an at- 
tempt is made to force the members of this church 
unto an approbation of the English hierarchy. A 
bold and fatal encroachment was made, 1737, upon 
the headship of Zion's King, by that Eraslian act, 
anent Capt. John Porteus.* By the above-men- 
tioned apostacy and corruption in the settlement and 
administration of the present civil government, the 
measure of guilt upon the body politic, and their 

* This man commanded the (own-guard of Edinburgh. Piqued 
at the populace, he ordered his men to fire upon them, and killed 
and wounded many. He was tried and condemned by the civil au- 
thority, to Buffer death as a murderer. He was a base man. The 
king reprieved him. The people took him from prison and gave 
Dim a public execution. Every minister was commanded to read 
from the pulpit, a declaration of parliament upon this subject, of- 
fering a reward lor a discovery of any one concerned in the deed 
No! one wai ever discovered. Scotland had no informers. 



THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 89 

Legislators is greatly filled up." These quotations 
are from Gibs. Display of the Sec. Test. Vol. ]. p. 
230 — 289. They speak the language of all Seccders, 
whether in Europe or America. Indeed, as to the 
moral character of the constitution of government in 
that country, there has not been much diversity of 
opinion among pious men who understand it. All 
admit its impiety. 

The following quotation shows the light in which 
the Reformed Presbyterian Church, in the British do- 
minions, view the national government. 

" When Henry VIII. of England, cast off the au- 
thority of the See of Rome, he did, at the same time, 
assume to himself all that power in his dominions, 
which the Pope formerly claimed ; and soon after- 
wards procured to have himself acknowledged and 
declared by act of parliament, to be head of the 
church. This Anlichristian Supremacy has ever 
since continued an essential part of the English con- 
stitution, and inherent right of the crown. The 
British monarch confines not his spiritual suprema- 
cy to the church of England, but extends it also 
over the church of Scotland."* 

" In the revolution of 1638, the settlement of religion 
is not a religious, but a mere civil and political one. 
It appears quite inconsistent with the revolution set- 
tlement, to consider church power in any other light, 
than as subordinate to the power of the state.t We 

' Act. Dec. and Test. 1707. p. 76, I Idem. p. CO— 62. 

12 



'JO THE MORAL CHARACTER OF 

have the idolatrous institutions of Prelacy, establish- 
ed in the one nation ; and Erastianism, under the 
specious pretext of Presbytery, in the other : and 
both under an exotic head of ecclesiastical govern- 
ment. As the Constitutions, of both church and 
state, were Erastian and antiscriptural ; so their con- 
duct ever since has been agreeable thereto ; tending 
evidently to discover that, while the state is robbing 
our Redeemer of his crown, and his church of her li- 
berties, the church, instead of testifying against, 
gives consent to these impieties.* It would be end- 
less to attempt an enumeration of all the instances of 
the exercise of Erastianism, which is annually re- 
newed. How often, alas ! have the Assemblies been 
prorogued, raised, and dissolved, by magistratical au- 
thority, and sometimes without nomination of ano- 
ther diet ! how frequently, also, have they been re- 
stricted in their proceedings, and prelimited as to 
members, and matters to be treated of and discussed 
therein ; depriving some members of their liberty to 
sit and act as members, though regularly chosen ! 
all which exercise of Erastian supremacy natively 
results from the parliamentary settlement."! 

6. If the congress of the United States, in the year 
1776, were correct in ascribing cruelty to the poli- 
cy of the British government, it is easy to show the 
continuance of the same disposition until the present 
da) 

* P. 63. \ P. G4. 



THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 91 

In the Declaration of Independence, the Fathers 
of American liberty assert, that " the history of the 
present king of Great Britain, is a history of repeated 
injuries and usurpations. He has plundered our 
seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and de- 
stroyed the lives of our people. He is at this time, 
transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries, to 
complete the work of death, desolation, and tyranny, 
already begun, with circumstances of cruelty and 
perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, 
and totally unworthy the head of a civilised nation. 
He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive 
on the high seas, to bear arms against their country, 
to become the executioners of their friends and bre- 
thren, or to fall themselves by their hands. He has 
excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has 
endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our fron- 
tiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule 
of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all 
ages, sexes, and conditions."* 

England is secure in her vast possessions in Asia ; 
and such is the frame of government for her territo- 
ries in the East, as rarely to admit of discussion, 
either in the parliament or in her newspapers. 
Therefore popular feeling is never excited about the 
operations of peace and war in that country, as it is 
about the several events which come to pass in the 
kingdoms of Europe. Among the princes of Hin- 
dustan, Great Britain has rioted for half a century, 

' Dec. Am. Indepen^encr. 



92 THE MORAL CHARACTER OE 

with a policy most cruel and perfidious, without pro- 
voking discussion, or commanding general attention, 
either in England or America. There, under the 
plausible plea, which tyranny never fails to employ, 
of granting protection for territory to the weaker 
states, the British power has effected more revolu- 
tions in the course of a few years, than have been 
effected in Europe since the troubles in France com- 
menced. The native sovereignties of India have 
been deceived, divided, and conquered: and their 
only recompense for the power and the territory 
which they surrendered, consists in the loss of their 
liberty and independence. 

The usurpations, and the rapacity, and cruelty as- 
cribed to the late Emperor of France, are exceeded in 
degree and permanence by the British government 
of India. In a political point of view, the miseries 
of Asia are not immediately interesting ; but in the 
estimate of moral character, the remoteness from 
us of the scene of action, must not prevent our 
taking these enormities into the account. In rela- 
tion to them, the most abject flatterers of British 
greatness have no apology to offer. These are not. 
defensive wars. They are the offspring of the lust, of 
power and of wealth. None of the Nabobs of the 
( 'arnalic or of Oude ; neither Timur, the hero of Pa- 
niput, nor Tippoo Sultan, nor the Great Mogul, ever 
threatened an invasion of the islands of Britain and 
Ireland. " To interfere actively in the domestic af- 
fair of ail other states; to regulate the succession 

f tin i;- governors; to take part in every quarrel; 



THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 93 

to claim the lands of one party for assisting him, 
and seize the lands of the other, after beating him ; 
to get allies by force, and take care that nobody 
shall rob them but ourselves; to quarter troops up- 
on our neighbours, and pay them w iih our neigh- 
bours' goods — This it is that we call Roman policy. 
While Tippoo is despoiled for befriending the 
French, and the Nizam is despoiled for befriending 
the English ; while Holkar is despoiled for beating 
the Peishwa, and the Peishwa is despoiled for being" 
beaten by Holkar — Who is it that is enriched by be- 
friending and beating them all ?■"* England — Eng- 
land is enriched. This, and not self-defence, is the 
cause of war in the East Indies. War is a judg- 
ment of heaven upon the nations that are engaged in 
carrying it on. Britain is seldom or ever at peace 
with other nations. She must, as a body politic, be a 
heinous transgressor. There is no avoiding the in- 
ference. God is just; and all his judgments are 
truth. Like ancient Rome, the most criminal of na- 
tions, She holds the stakes for every game that is 
played by the sword and the cannon, and whoever 
loses or wins, she is ultimately the gainer by the 
quarrel. Providence will overrule ; and they who 
thrive by the wages of iniquity, must expect a day 
of retribution. 

England, I admit, enjoys within herself compara- 
tive prosperity. Her nobles are at ease and in afflu- 
ence. Her merchants are opulent and prosperous. 

*Edin. Rev. Vol. \l p. 469. 



<J4 THE MORAL CHARACTER OP 

Her yeomanry, although burdened with taxation, 
are healthy, and industrious, and flourishing. Her 
manufacturers, though embarrassed by the American 
war, are still influential and wealthy. The spirit of 
liberty in England, and Scotland, and Ireland, has 
given way for a time to the claims of the crown ; 
and for fear of foreign domination, the subjects sub- 
mit, with resignation, to their doom. The judicia- 
ry, with the exception of that of Ireland, which has 
always, like a conquered province, been ruled with 
a rod of iron, is sufficiently independent to admi- 
nister common justice. In Scotland and England, 
personal liberty is in a great measure enjoyed : and 
yet, even in relation to her domestic policy, Britain 
is very cruel. 

In Ireland, for reasons of state, she persecutes the 
Catholics. It is not on account of their religion ; 
for this she has always supported on the continent ; 
but for their dissent from the English hierarchy, that 
the Irish are oppressed. She reduces the Presbyte- 
rians to pay tithes to an indolent, and often an absent 
and immoral priesthood, whom they neither know 
nor revere. In all her dominions, she restrains the 
spirit of independence and emigration, not by ren- 
dering home comfortable, but by laws and officers, 
who bind the intended emigrant as if by right, to 
the spot in which he was born. She authorizes 
bonds and captivity, by the pressgang, that secret, 
sudden, and formidable engine of despotic power, 
which seizes upon its victim unawares, and chains 
him to the wheels of the cannon — A system of op- 



THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 05 

t 

pression and cruelty, compared with which, the Con- 
scription of Napoleon was equitable and desirable. 
A tour of hardships, foreseen, regulated by law, 
i equable, because extending equally to all classes, is 
[not to be compared to a sudden seizure, partial, 
i unexpected, unprovided for, and without the hope of 
■ escape. Regular occasional service, however hard, 
is not to be compared to slavery without redress. 

Cruelty is exercised also on the conscience. Al- 
though subjects have the contemptible permission, 
of living unmolested, by the king, while they are 
silent and submissive ; yet the government makes a 
mockery of conscience ; corrupts the morals of the 
subjects with ensnaring oaths of allegiance, repeated, 
and repeated ; and constrains them to forego integ- 
rity of religious character, by partaking of the Sa- 
cramenlal Test as the price of admission to power. 

There is one other feature of British policy, to 
which, under this head, I would direct your atten- 
tion. 

The English merchants and monopolists, are men 
of princely fortunes. They, with the Lords of the 
soil, and of the political chvrch of the land, (for 
such is the church of England as established by 
flaw,) may easily acquire a character for splendour 
and munificence. But how is it supported ? Not by 
the islands of Great Britain. It is by the policy of 
that government relative to its trade. The commer- 
cial monopoly is the staff of pride and power. The 



c< THE MORAL CHARACTER OF 

usurpation of the seas is an act of injustice. It is a 
system of cruelty towards the weaker states, that 
drives them from the ocean. It is the cruelty of a 
licensed robber, that attacks the traveller upon the 
highway, and prevents him from prosecuting his 
journey to the market. This, this is the cause of 
war. Britain is scarcely ever at peace, because she 
seeks the destruction of her neighbours' commerce. 

War is an evil. It is a school of vice. It is a 
nursery of debauchery. By it, cities are sacked, 
and countries laid waste. The dearest ties of kin- 
dred are unloosed, fathers made childless, children 
fatherless, and wives converted into widows. You 
see, brethren, some of its pernicious effects in 
this city : and you feel and lament the evil. You 
hear of greater evils in other parts of our land, du- 
ring the short period since war has upon our part ex- 
isted. You deprecate the calamity. You regret 
the policy which led to such a state of things. You 
are tempted to call in question entirely, the legiti- 
macy of war. It is not surprising you should. 
What more cruel, and less congenial with the spirit 
of the gospel? But England is scarcely ever at 
peace. Such scenes are essential to her commer- 
cial greatness. Her naval superiority is her glory. 
From the Bailie to the Ganges, she is shedding hu- 
ni.in Mood. And is she then innocent? The ago- 
nies, the cries, the death of a thousand victims, on 
the shores, on the seas, in the cities of the nations, 
are the concomitants of that immense opulence, 
which the traveller admires in Liverpool and in Lon- 



THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 97 

don. Twenty years of peace, in the civilized world, 
would reduce Great Britain from her rank among 
the nations. Allow the continental powers of Eu- 
rope a free and a fair commerce ; allow to these 
United States the unrestrained right of carrying 
their trade from sea to sea, and from nation to na- 
tion; allow to all the nations equal rights, while 
ploughing the deep, uninterrupted by the men of war, 
and the glory of England, like that of Tyre, shall 
sink to rise no more, Her policy is in war; and 
that policy is cruel. 

CONCLUSION. 

That nation, the Government of which we have 
thus weighed in the balances, is, nevertheless, entitled 
to our christian attention and admiration. There, 
the sciences and the arts are patronized and cultiva- 
ted, and most liberally rewarded. There, among 
christians of every denomination, is the honourable 
strife, who shall do most for promoting the diffusion 
of revealed truth throughout the world. There, 
treasure is collected, and hands are employed, for 
stretching over the perishing heathen the curtains of 
Zion. There, exists that noble institution, which ex- 
ceeds any thing that has hitherto been established by 
christian exertions, The British and Foreign Bi- 
ble Society — A river of life, which, with its thou- 
sand streams, flows through every kingdom of the 
world, watering, refreshing, and fructifying, until the 
wilderness become like Eden, and the desert like 
the garden of the Lord. There, in despite of the 

13 



[)U CONCLUSION. 

immoral tendency of the laws ; in despite of the pub- 
lic prostitution of religion; in despite of the pride, 
and the debauchery, and the licentiousness of the 
great; and of the misery, the baseness, the wicked- 
ness of the rabble, which prowl through the streets 
of the populous cities; — there, exist much patriotism 
and courage, a feeling of personal liberty and inde- 
pendence, learning, and talent, and piety, and great, 
domestic order and happiness. 

We admit all this with pleasure ; we pray for the 
prosperity of christian men and christian institutions; 
we are anxious to hold them up to others for imita- 
tion ; we love them sincerely ; and we supplicate the 
throne of grace for their promotion and perma- 
nence : but we do not admit them as a justification 
of the evils we have pointed out. They increase in- 
stead of diminishing the guilt of the government. 
It is the art of the writers of Romance ; it is the 
great evil of the drama, to introduce a character 
possessed of certain noble traits, that may palliate 
and recommend vice and impiety ; and so pollute the 
morals of the unwary. Wo to them that call good 
evil, and evil good ; that put bitter for sweet, and 
sweet for bitter. We distinguish ; we contrast the 
good with the bad : and while we admit and approve 
what is righteous among the people of those islands, 
we bear our decided testimony against the usurpa- 
tion, the superstition, the apostacy, the Erastianism, 
and the cruelty of the British system of govern- 
ment. 



CONCLUSION. 99 

f have now, my brethren, weighed in the balances, 
the British monarchy and the American republic. 
They are both found, in some instances, wanting. 
But the difference, in point of immorality, between 
them is great. There is scarcely any comparison. 
Our country has indeed transgressed, and we are at 
this moment suffering the chastisement which we de- 
Serve. The enemy is let loose upon our borders. 
God grant to us the sanctified use of the blow, and 
direct us to the means proper for warding it off. 
May the God of heaven succeed our efforts, in the 
field, on the lakes, on the ocean, and in the councils 
of negotiation, for bringing the enemy to a sense of 
justice. 

Should we suppose an intelligent man elevated to 
some spot in space, above the world, whence, with- 
out partiality to either of the belligerents, he could 
take a survey of both, and mark the contest be- 
tween them — He would, upon principles of humani- 
ty, wish success to the most innocent in the combat. 
Independently of the causes which produced the 
strife, and of the consequences which would result, 
this must certainly be the wishes of a philanthropist 
on beholding the character of the parties at war. 
Did you see a youth of mild demeanour, and of 
known integrity, engaged with an experienced and 
long practised boxer, who made a trade of boasting 
and of battle, you would instinctively wish that this 
youth might escape unhurt, or come off victorious. 
The inference I draw is, that, in the present contest, 
between the belligerents described in this discourse, 
humanity wishes success to our own country. 



100 CONCLUSION. 

To the causes and proximate consequences of the 
present war, I intend, hereafter, to turn your atten- 
tion. Independently of these, our acquaintance with 
the national character of the parties, furnishes an ar- 
gument in support of our hopes. 

There is an eye above the earth, that knows the 
nations, that marks their conduct, that observes the 
strife. There is a Man, elevated above the world, 
with whom is no respect, of persons, who is touched 
with the feelings of our infirmities, and will award 
to men and to empires their due. Christians, it is 
your Redeemer. Behold him on high, at the right 
hand of God, exalted above all principalities and 
powers. He is Prince of the kings of the earth. 
He rules in the battle. He directs the storm. He is 
mindful of individuals. He will save them that trust 
in him. He will bless and protect his church, while the 
nations are at war. He invites you to come under the 
shadow of his wings. There you shall have rest. 
His voice of peace is heard, while his hand controls 
the battle. Yes, brethren, while his Almighty fin- 
ger writes upon the palace-wall, this sentence against 
the nations, Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin, to you 
he says, Come, my people, enter thou into thy cham- 
bers, and shut thy doors about thee : hide thyself as it 
acre for a little moment, until the indignation be over- 
past. Amen, 



THE LAWFULNESS OF DEFENSIVE WAR. 

— — tMftb 

SERMON III. 

With good advice make war. Pro v. xx. 1 8. 

Tf HEN the son of Jesse was pursued by Saul, the 
king of Israel, among the sheep-cotes of Engedi, he 
had an opportunity of inflicting personal vengeance 
upon his persecutor, in a cave, to which he had re- 
tired. The temptation was strong ; but David re- 
sisted it, waiting the time, appointed by the Lord, 
for his own exaltation to the throne. He fortified 
himself, by an ancient maxim, in the resolution of 
permitting the escape of his enemy; and to that 
proverbial saying he afterwards referred king Saul, 
who was surprised at this remarkable instance of pa- 
tience and magnanimity upon the part of a much in- 
jured man. " The Lord avenge me of thee : but 
mine hand shall not be upon thee. As saith the pro- 
verb of the ancients, wickedness proceedeth from the 
wicked : but mine hand shall not be upon thee."* It 
appears from this expression, that, in this early age, 
David revered the practical wisdom and morality of 
antiquity, as communicated to posterity in pro- 

* 1 Sam. xxiv. 12, 13. 



102 THE LAWFULNESS OF 

verbs. It becomes us, who believe in the scriptures, 
to hold in superior veneration the ancient aphorisms 
of the son of David. These are not merely descrip- 
tive of the general temper and morals of the age ; 
but are maxims of sacred law for the direction of 
our conduct in every situation of life. They have 
a higher authority than antiquity, to recommend 
them. The proverbs of Solomon are the dictates of 
the Holy Ghost. 

The writer had, under the influence of this spirit, 
the power of giving peculiar point to the proverbial 
style ; and from his works, as from an abundant store- 
house, succeeding ages have drawn their best max- 
ims. Desirous of employing his great wisdom for 
the benefit of mankind, this enlightened monarch 
devoted his leisure hours to writing for their instruc- 
tion. His productions were numerous and compre- 
hensive. Besides his three thousand proverbs, and his 
one thousand and five songs, or poems ; he spake 
of trees, from the cedar to the hyssop, of beasts, of 
fouls, of creeping things, and of fishes. His works 
on natural history are lost to us for ever. Let us 
not repine ; but with gratitude and submission, im- 
prove his doctrinal and moral writings, for our own 
edification. 

In the verse, which I have chosen for my text, the 
wise man recommends caution and circumspection. 
Good counsellors, while they do not destroy the de- 
cisiveness of character, necessary to success on great 
emergencies, furnish the information required, in or- 



DEFENSIVE WAR. 103 

der to act with understanding and with confidence. 
In those disputes between nations, which must ulti- 
mately be settled by a trial of arms, such advisers 
are peculiarly estimable. Every purpose is establish- 
ed by counsel: and with good advice make war. 

The peaceful son of David, declares in this apho- 
rism, the duty of waging war, and of waging it only 
with prudence. He did this under divine inspiration, 
He spoke the language of good sense, of sound poli- 
cy, and of true piety. He gave an advice, perfectly 
corresponding with that given afterwards by our 
Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince of peace, of whom So- 
lomon was the type. Luke xiv. 31. What king go- 
ing to make war against another king, sitlcth not down 
first, and consultelh, whether he be able — to meet him ? 
This mode of reasoning, is a New Testament confir- 
mation of the Old Testament doctrine, with good 

ADVICE MAKE WAR. 

The plan of my discourse on this text, I now lay 
before you. 

War is, in certain cases, lawful — Lawful war is de- 
fensive with a rational prospect of success — Such a 
war ought to be supported. 

These, my christian brethren, are very plain as- 
sertions. They are the principles of my text. The 
truth of each proposition is so obvious, that there is, 
indeed, little need of either argument or proof: but. 
there is no truth, however self-evident, that some one 



{04 THE LAWFULNESS OF 

does not dispute. Great talents have been employed, 
in the learned world, to prove that I may reasonably 
doubt of my own existence. In the christian world, 
gome ingenuity has been employed, to disprove the 
positions now laid down, and of course to prevent 
the civilized world from acting upon them. 

Did the arguments, which are used to show that 
war is prohibited in every case, by the christian re- 
ligion, tend in fact to diminish the evil, I certainly 
should never raise my voice against them. Know- 
ing, however, that they are not only untrue, but un- 
operative; not only unoperative as to the object 
professed ; but mischievous in their consequences, 
by fostering the evil which they propose to prevent ; 
I feel it my duty to meet them, and refute them. 
Disputations more frequently engender strife, than 
minister to the use of edifying. Calling in question 
the lawfulness of war, in any case, puzzles, and di- 
vides the well-meaning part of the community ; but, 
has no other influence upon the designing, than to 
afford them an opportunity of converting to their 
own schemes, the existing contentions and preju- 
dices. 

By producing distractions in the more simple, and 
free, and moral states, the unprincipled and ambi- 
tious politicians of the nations are encouraged to 
prowl for their prey, and deal in unceasing wars. It 
U nol by disputing the right of enacting penal sta- 
tute--, and inflicting punishment, that domestic peace 
and order are secured; but by instructing the com- 



DEFENSIVE WAR. 105 

munity in their legitimacy and utility ; and so, com- 
manding the whole force of the nation, in support 
of the arm of authority, in executing speedily, upon 
the disturbers of their repose, the merited sentence 
of the law. It is in the same way, and for the same 
reasons, that international equity and peace will be 
secured to the world. When nations shall come to 
understand the rights of war and peace ; when they 
shall be prepared to judge of the justness of com- 
bats ; when they shall be disposed, without distrac- 
tion, to yield their support to equitable claims ; 
when they shall be prepared to undertake, and to 
maintain lawful war against the aggressor, then, and 
not till then, shall states be allowed to enjoy undis- 
turbed quietness, and to rest in the bosom of peace. 
Therefore do I now undertake an illustration of the 
truths which I have proposed from the text, in the 
order already mentioned, 

I. War is, in certain cases, lawful* 

The strife of arms, in which man is set against 
man, and people against people, is, in all cases, an 
evil to be deplored. In most instances, it is a crime 
in both the parties ; and, in every instance, there is 
on the part of one of them, injustice towards the 
other, It is permitted of God, for the correction 
and punishment of transgressions, and it is to be re- 
ferred, for its source among men, to the corrupt 
passions. " Of the works of the jtesh are these, hatred* 
variance, emulations, wrath, strife. From whence come 

14 



|06 THE LAWFULNESS OF 

wars and fightings anions; you? come they not hence, 
even of your lusts that war in your members ?* 

Far be it from me, while explaining the precept 
of my God, " With good advice make war," to en- 
courage that which is sinful: to cherish the malevo- 
lent passions : or to recommend the military life as 
desirable. It is to suppress the malevolence of man, 
to redress injuries, to promote righteousness, that 
the sovereign of the world ever authorized an ap- 
peal to the sword ; and it is with the same design I 
vindicate the morality of what he hath authorized. 
Strange phraseology, indeed, to be required among 
christians, vindicate the morality of what God hath 
authorized ! and yet it is required in this discussion. 

War is the employment of force under the 
sovereign authority of one civil community 
against any oTHER.f That it is lawful to use such 
force, I shall show from reason and from scripture. 

J . The lawfulness of war is a deduction of sound 
reasoning j from the circumstances of civil life. 

To live in a state of society is both the duty and 
the privilege of man. It is the Creator of the world, 
who said, It is not good that man should be alone. A 

* Gal. v. 19, 20. and James iv. K 

i In all correct reasoning, it is necessary to keep in view the 
pneaning of the words we employ. " War is that state in which a 
nation prosecutes its right by force." Vattcl. 



DEFENSIVE WAR. 107 

great part of the active principles of human nature 
would remain unimproved and unemployed, and 
much of his happiness would necessarily be cut off, 
were man doomed to a perpetual seclusion from so- 
ciety, and constrained to spend his life in solitude. 
It is not, however, to be expected, that a state of so- 
ciety can exist on earth, during the continuance of 
our imperfection, in which no error in morals will 
obtain. Humanum est errare. Diversities of views, 
and of inclinations, and of interests, cannot fail to pro- 
duce discord ; and the corrupt propensities of indi- 
viduals require, for the preservation of social order, 
that the power of suppressing evils should be placed 
in the hands of competent authority. An advisory au- 
thority, unless endowed with the right of employing 
force, would be found a nullity. Thus, as society is 
necessary to man, and government is necessary to 
society, the application of force is essential to both : 
and the application of force to the correction of er- 
roneous conduct, necessarily implies, that civil so- 
ciety has the power of property, liberty, life, and 
death, over every member. Such is the constitution 
of society. Such is the will of God, expressed in 
the constitution of human nature. Let theory say 
what it will, it is a fact, that civil society has the 
right of taking away by force the life of any of its 
members. 

In vain am I told, by visionary theorists, that man 
has not the right of taking away his own life. I know 
it. The Lord giveth life. He only has the right of 
taking it away, or of ordering another to take it 



lOii THE LAWFULNESS €>1< 

away. In vain am I told, that society has only the 
rights which individuals have surrendered to it: and 
that of course it has not the right of taking away my 
life, seeing I could not surrender what was not at 
my option. I did not make myself a social being. 
God made me so. Society is his creature. From him 
it derives the right of self-preservation. Civilians 
and Divines behove to attend to this fact. It is 
Atheism, however it may be disguised, that supports 
the contrary principle. He is a short-sighted States- 
man, who, enamoured of the theories of Beccaria 
and Voltaire, argues against the right of capital pu~ 
nishments, in any case. It is not humanity, but 
fully, that dictates this doctrine. He is a short- 
sighted Divine, who is seduced by the reasonings of 
George Fox and William Perm. It is not religion ; 
but fanaticism, that is promoted by such arguments. 

1 know, that small societies, in the bosom of regu- 
larly organized nations — I know, that ecclesiastical 
bodice may exist, without the application, upon their 
own part, of violence to any member; but the power 
of force must exist somewhere, otherwise, one unru- 
ly member might destroy any such society. 

Laws are necessary to guard the rights of proper- 
t) ; but if society have no right to transfer so much 
of the debtor's property, against his will, into the 
hands of the creditor, as may satisfy equity, laws 
ire a non-entity again, if the debtor resists the offi- 
cers of the law, and society has no right to apply 
in any case, tiie debtor escapes with impunity, 



DEFENSIVE WAR. 109 

and laughs at the law. Legislation is still a nullity. 
If force may be applied in any measure, short of in- 
flicting wounds and death ; if the debtor knows be- 
forehand, that no power dare touch his life, he may 
arm himself; he may escape the law with all its 
other force; and he may lay under contribution, to 
his cupidity, every member of the community. There 
must in such case be an end to society. This is ob- 
vious to every man. Each state is of course com- 
pelled to arm, with the sword, the civil magistrate. 
Each individual will say, though I have no right to 
destroy my life, I have power to ampntate a mem- 
ber for the preservation of the body : and each state 
will say, I have power to cut off any member for 
the safety of the whole. 

This argument puts beyond a doubt the lawfulness 
of war. Civil punishment is the exercise of force upon 
an enemy, to the community of jvhich he is a member. 
The lowest degree of punishment, involves the right 
of taking the life of the criminal if re-istance on his 
part render the application of such force necessary. 
Most assuredly then, if the aggressor be of a differ- 
ent community, and be authorized by such commu- 
nity to act as an enemy, the sovereign power of the 
injured commonwealth may lawfully resist even unto 
blood ; and may apply the degree and kind of force 
necessary to correct the evil. If the right of waging 
war be withheld from the body politic, there is an 
end to the independence of nations, and all society 
is dissolved. 



110 THE LAWFULNESS OF 

Reasoning upon these principles, I am constrained 
to pronounce the contrary opinions, by whatever 
names, and from whatever motives, they are urged, 
both unreasonable and dangerous. It is the will of 
God, expressed in the constitution of society, that 
nations have a right to wage war: and if it should 
ever be made manifest, that the Deity, by positive 
injunction, prohibited the exercise of this right, I 
would indeed submit to his decision, and submit im- 
plicitly ; but I would also infer, that, in making 
such prohibition, he, who knows the consequences of 
his own laws, had also ordered the dissolution of so- 
ciety itself. So far is the revelation of his grace 
from giving countenance to such absurdities, that I 
am enabled thereby to support the principle urged 
in my text, With good advice make war. 

2. The lawfulness of war is evident from the scrip- 
lures. 

In presenting the argument, drawn from the ex- 
pression of the will of God, in the sacred oracles, in 
favour of the right of making war, I do not forget or 
conceal, that it is principally contained in the Old 
Testament. I also know, that in the opinions of 
many professors of religion, this is a sufficient reason 
for rejecting the proof. As all, that referred to a 
Saviour expected, but not as yet manifested in the 
.flesh, in the Old Testament dispensation, has been 
superseded by the Redeemer, in his mission, suffer- 
ings, and exaltation; as all, who believe in hm 



DEFENSIVE WAR. II J 

name, are not of sufficient discernment, to distin- 
guish between morality and mere ritual economy ; 
and as prejudice and convenience are fruitful in mis- 
apprehension and misapplication, it is not wonderful, 
that some of our brethren should be tempted to under- 
value the principles of moral order which are revealed 
by the prophets. It is, nevertheless, a matter of la- 
mentation, that such misunderstanding should be so ge- 
neral and injurious. Very few christian societies ex- 
ist, who have not erred on this subject. The church 
membership of our offspring — the use of our psalm- 
ody — the theology of civil polity — the existence even 
of moral obligation — the utility of the Old Testa- 
ment, have all, by different sects of professed chris- 
tians, been called in question on this account. 
" There is not/' says one,* " a revelation of a future 
state made to those who lived before the advent of 
Messiah." " Where," says another,! " will you 
find in the Old Testament, the doctrine of faith, 
or of imputed righteousness." AVhile the minds 
of christians are thus amazed and bewildered, it 
ought not to surprise us that some good men have 
denied the applicability of the argument, in support 
of the right of waging war, which all admit, is 
abundantly to be found in the bible. And yet, we 
are not permitted to give up those great principles 
of morality, which it hath pleased God to reveal, and 
to sanction with his own authority. It is due to my 

* Bishop Warburton. 
I Rer. Mr, Freeman, of Newburgru 



112 THE LAWFULNESS OF 

hearers, to say, that, in referring for proof to inspired 
men before the incarnation of our Lord, I do it upon 
this broad principle, that morality and piety are 

ESSENTIALLY THE SAME IN EVERY AGE OF THE WORLD. 

Man is essentially the same through all genera- 
lions. God is the same yesterday, to-day, and for 
ever. The image of God, on the soul of man, is at 
all times and places of the same character. Precepts, 
the reason of which is laid in changeable circum- 
stances, cease or change with the occasion ; but prin- 
ciples, founded upon permanent relations, are unalter- 
able. Although men should now pretend to more holi- 
ness than was possessed by Abraham, by David, by 
Samuel, by Elijah, and Nehemiah, this, however 
great the assumption upon their part, would not jus- 
tify their denial of the right of war, unless the}' 
could at the same time show, that human nature is 
not now what it was, or that God, the Lawgiver, has 
undergone mutation both of nature and of will. If 
holiness, now, is the same as ever, then is war as law- 
ful as formerly : for that it cannot have been for- 
bidden by him who once authorized it, is evident 
from the fact, that there is no reason for a change 
of law, as well as from the necessity of its legitima- 
cy, if society be not entirely dissolved.* 

W e now proceed to lay before you, from both the 
Old and the New Testaments, (for in this case I 

See the preceding argument, page 109. 



DEFENSIVE WAR, 1 13 

make no difference between them,) a summary view 
of the argument in defence of the right of waging 
war. We have in the bible, in vindication of this 
maxim, Approved facts — Doctrines — Precepts and re- 
proofs — Promises and prayers. 

First. Approved fads. The history of Abrara, 
of Moses, of Joshua, of the Judges, of the Kings, 
and the Governors, affords such an abundance of in- 
stances, in which war has been waged by Divine ap- 
probation, and often at his express command, that 
there is no need of specification. I do not, therefore, 
take up your time with references and explications. 

Second. Scripture doctrine inculcates the maxim, 
1 take my proof from the New Testament as well as 
from the Old. Rom. xiii. 3, 4. " For Rulers are 
not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou 
then not be afraid of the power ? For he is the mi- 
nister of Goo to thee for good. But if thou do that 
which is evil, be afraid ; for he beareth not the 
sword in vain : for he is the minister of God, a re- 
venger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil 

I never, in the course of my reading, met with so 
perfect a description of the nature, the duty, the pro- 
vince, and the design of civil government, in so short 
a compass, as we find in the first six verses of this 
chapter. Without reference to any particular coun- 
try, but with a perfect applicability to all, the apos- 
tle lays down the doctrine of civil sovereignty, accor- 
ding to the christian law: and he affords another 

15 



H4 THE LAWFULNESS Ol 

evidence of a truth, which ought never to be forgot- 
ten, by those who consider man in his social charac- 
ter, that the revealed will of God embraces the true 
philosophy of government. Individual man derives 
from God the right of self-government. Hence the 
sacred origin of personal liberty. Man, in his col- 
lective capacity, derives from God the right of go- 
vernment ; hence the magistrate is his ordinance — 
He is the minister of God. The design of this insti- 
tution is the good of society — He is the minister of 
God for good. His province is the protection of 
virtue, and the suppression of evil. Riders are not 
a terror to good works, but to the evil. In sup- 
pressing evil, the national sovereignty is divinely 
armed with vengeance — The minister of God, a re- 
venger to execute wrath. 

These are not the words of a vain philosopher, 
carelessly slumbering over ideal plans of reform. 
They are words of truth. The idea of civil punish- 
ment which they convey, differs entirely from the fa- 
natical imaginations of deluded minds, and from the 
pretended discoveries of infidel humanity. The 

w ord of the sovereign, is not merely disciplinary as 
an instrument of reform; it is also for vengeance. 
Punishment is not prospective, but retrospective. It 
contemplates not so much the capability of improve- 
ment, as the guilt of its subject. It is the connex- 
ion established by the moral Governor of trie uni- 
verse between pain and crime. This is punishment : 
and he is but a novice in the science of jurispru- 

lence, who has the idea yet to learn. 



DEFENSIVE WAR. 115 

Now if the magistrate does not bear the sword in 
vain, he must use it. It is put in his hand not for show, 
but for execution. He is not decked in military ha- 
biliments for mere parade. He puts on his armour, to 
strike with terror the enemies of his country. God 
gives him the right of waging war. He is the minis- 
ter of God, attending continually on this very thing. 
As a man, let him be meek, peaceful, and foimvin<r. 
.Let every man, in his individual character, be hu- 
mane, conciliating, patient of injury, slow to an- 
ger. It is the law of Christ. It is strongly express- 
ed, Matth. v. 39—41. / say unto you, that ye resist not 
evil; but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, 
turn to him the other also. And if any man will 
sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him, 
have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel 
thee to go a mile, go with him twain. 

These precepts are not to be understood literally. 
They only inculcate patience and forbearance upon 
individuals ; but if they must be literally construed, 
there is an end to industry and social order. You 
must leave your business, and go with the ruffian, 
without resistance, not only out of your way, whither 
he would urge, but even twice as far. You must 
not take out a defence at law against injustice : you 
must not only allow a man to take from your door, 
before your eyes, a part of your property ; but also 
give him even more than he desired. You must put 
an end to the rights of property, and pronounce the 
law itself unchristian. You must not only bear 
with personal assault; but also encourage it by 



116 THE LAWFULNESS OF 

turning the other cheek to him that smites. You 
must in nowise, by no means whatever, by gentle or 
violent means, by persuasion, or by the law, resist 
any evil that befalls you. 

Who then is so blind as not to see the absurdity of 
such a construction? Who so childish as to use this 
argument against the rights of war ? We must adopt 
a consistent plan of interpretation ; and recollect that 
the Author of the gospel, while he, in this passage, 
urges upon individuals a forgiving disposition, lays 
down in another passage, the duty of the national 
representative, acting as his minister, to exercise 
vengeance on the aggressor. He is a revenger to exe- 
cute wrath.* This is the doctrine of Jesus Christ our 
Lord. It is the Holy Ghost, the comforter of our 
souls, that makes the declaration. He, who sancti- 
fies and instructs true christians, hereby declares that 
war is in certain cases lawful. 

I might multiply quotations: but I only add in 
this connexion, the words of Solomon. By wise 

* Ek^Ws etc opyw. The word £*<J'/x«5 is derived from ixomea, and 
that from ex. and dixy. It signifies an avenger. He, who says to 
individuals in the preceding chap. Kom. xii. 19, 20. " Dearly be- 
loved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath • 
for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. 
Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him 
drink }'' says, in this case, of the national sovereign, in his official 
I capacity, " he is the minister of God, an avenger to execute wrath. 1 * 
If tlii« distinction were kept in mind, there would be no room for 
perverting scriplure, constraining it to speak against the right of 
applying force for the correction of injury, 



DEFENSIVE WAR. 117 

counsel thou shalt make thy war ;* the words of the 
prophet, relative to the sons of Reuben and their allies, 
They cried to God in the battle, and he ivas entreated 
of them — there fell down many slain, because the war 
was of God ;f and the words of Hezekiah, / have 
counsel and strength for war.% 

Third. Scripture precepts and reproof God hath 
commanded war in some instances to be waged ; and 
hath reproved, in other cases, those who refused to 
carry it on. It is utterly impossible, however, that a 
holy God should command that which is in its nature 
unholy. That which is in itself indifferent y he may in 
his sovereignty command or prohibit : and the 
changeable circumstances and conditions, in which 
we are placed, may render alterations of divine law, 
predicated upon mutable relations, wise and becom- 
ing. But he never recommends malevolence, impe- 
nitence, or unbelief. True, he once commanded 
Abraham to offer his own son Isaac upon the altar; 
but this was as a trial of faith ; and he did not per- 
mit him to execute the deed. Jehovah has, more- 
over, a right to recall at pleasure the gift of life, and 
to appoint the executioner. And he doth so, when 
he calls a nation to war, and to kill the enemy. The 
mere taking away of human life, is in itself lawful ; 
for the equity or criminality of the act, depends 
upon circumstances. Homicide is innocent. The 
execution of the guilty is a duty. Murder is a 

* Prov. xxiv. 6. f 1 Chron. v. 20, 22. 

I If=a. xxxvi. 5. 



J 18 THE LAWFULNESS UF 

crime. Those who kill in a just war, are acting 
under divine authority. It is what he commands. 
Psalm cxlix. 6. Let the high praises of Godbein their 
mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand; to exe- 
cute vengeance vpon the heathen, and punishments upon 
the people; to bind their kings with chains , and their 
nobles with fetters of iron. 

The Lord reproves both cowardice and opposition to 
equitable warfare. That spirit of slavish cupidity, 
which degrades men or nations, and disposes them 
to prefer ignoble peace to manly warfare, as it is 
base and pusillanimous, is also contemned by the 
word of God, which always recommends every thing 
that is truly great, magnanimous, and good. Gen, 
xiv. 49. Issachar is a strong* Ass, couching down be- 
tween two burdens : and he saw that rest was good, and 
the land that it was pleasant ; and bowed his shoulder 
to bear, and became a servant unto tribute. They 
have grossly misrepresented Christianity, who have 
described it as a system subservient to the ambition 
of the few, and the reduction to servitude, of the 
many. It administers reproof in a vehement tone, 
to all, who, when duty called, refuse to co-operate in 
the maintenance of right, by war. Judges v. 19 — 23. 
Zcbu/un and Naphlali, were a people that jeoparded 
their lives unto the death, in the high places of the field. 
The kings came and fought. Curse ye Meroz, (said 
I he angel of the Lord,) curse ye bitterly the inhabi- 
tants thereof ; because they came not to the help of 
the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty. 



DEFENSIVE WAR. 119 

I add, in the fourth place, the scriptures as- 
sure us, that prayers are offered up for success in 
war, and that the Lord who answers prayers, vouch- 
safes to promise both a blessing and success. 

I speak not, however, of the prayers, which Eras* 
tian power prescribes for the ministers kept in the 
pay of princes. I speak not of petitions mis- 
chievously granted or withheld, in order to gratify 
the mere party politician. I speak of the prayers 
of the intelligent believer ; of the single-hearted chris- 
tian ; of him, who, uninfluenced by sordid consider- 
ations, pours out the desires of his soul to God, for 
a righteous cause, and for success to the means em- 
ployed to secure its triumph. To such the Lord 
hath promised the victory, in a legitimate contest 
with the sword. Lev. xxvi. 7. Ye shall chase your 
enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. 
2 Kings iii. 18, 19. He will deliver the Moabites also 
into your hand : and ye shall smite every fenced city. 
Psalm xciv. 1, 2. O Lord, to whom vengeance belong- 
cth — show thyself. Lift up thyself thou Judge of the 
earthy render a reward to the proud. Verses 20, 23. 
Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, 
which framcth mischief by a law ? The Lord our 
God shall cut them off. Psalm xliv. 4, 5. O Lord, 
command deliverance — through thee ?ve shall push down 
our enemies. 

I have trespassed, sufficiently, upon your patience, 
in arguing a case clear enough, without the aid of 
special pleading. The objections, which are usually 



120 THE LAWFULNESS 01 

made to the legitimacy of war, in any cause, 1 
have already anticipated, so far as they appeared to 
me to require examination. Wo man is more anx- 
ious than I am, to hear that all war hath ceased 
throughout the ends of the earth. I ardently pray 
for the time when men shall learn its arts no more; 
but I cannot admit that the religion of the Son of 
God, proposes to tit- up the hands of those who feel 
its power, and to reduce them into passive subjec- 
tion to him, who delights in robbery and bloodshed. 
1 plead in behalf only, of 

II. Defensive Warfare. 

In the application of force to the correction of in- 
iurv, reason ought to guide : and if the force to be 
applied, is obviously inadequate to the object, it is 
in vain to make the application. It is madness to at- 
tempt to remove mountains by human agency; and 
it is criminal to risk treasure and life, by engaging 
in a bloody warfare without prospect of any suc- 
cess. In such a case, although cause of war exists, it 
is better to sutler than to contend. Upon this prin- 
ciple, those directions which are given in scripture, 
ami which some have mistaken for a prohibition of 
resistance in any case, are to be understood. Upon 
thi< principle the martyrs acted, taking joyfully the 
spoiling of their goods, and passively submitting, un- 
der a righteous providence, to an injustice which 
Ihey had no power to control. They suffered with- 
out resistance, because resistance would have only 
augmented the measure of their pains. This was 



DEFENSIVE WAR. 121 

right. It is what was required of them by their 
God. 

There is, indeed, an exception, in extraordinary 
eases, to the application of this rule. When the 
Lord expressly enjoins resistance, should it be only 
by a few or even by a single hand against a 
whole nation, man must of right obey ; because, 
however improbable success may be, obedience to 
heaven is the first duty. He, too, who gives the 
commandment, is himself able to make obedience 
successful. This was repeatedly exemplified in the 
history of Joshua, the Judges, and the Kings of 
Israel. The walls of Jericho fell at the blast of 
the trumpet.* Before Gideon and a company of 
three hundred men, the hosts of Midian were put 
to flight,! and Elijah the prophet successfully 
resisted the armed companies of the king of Sama- 
| ria.% 

These, however, w r ere extraordinary events, and 
do not constitute, in the common proceedings of 
life, a rule of conduct in undertaking war. It is 
in those cases, in which the issue of the contest 
may appear doubtful, that prudence selects the op- 
portunity, and courage is displayed in turning it to 
the best advantage. It is manifest, notwithstanding, 
that whatever cause of war exists, it ouoiit not to 
be waged without a rational prospect of success. 

* Josh, vi, 20. f Judges yii. 22- 

% 2 Kings i. 12. 
16 



,.»•> uiK LAWFULNESS OI 

This is the command of my text; and it is the 
direction of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. What 
king going to make war against another king, sitteth 
Holdonm first, and consulteth, whether he be able with 
(en thousand, to meet him that cometh against him with 
twenty thousand/ or else, while the other is yet a great 
nay off, he scndelh an ambassage, and desireth condi- 
tions of peace* 

Having already established the maxim, that war 
is in some cases lawful, and having now shown that 
however great and just may be the cause for waging 
it, no nation should enter upon the strife with- 
out a prospect of success, I proceed to explain what 
is meant by 

Defensive War. 

It is necessary to be very particular in affixing 
correct ideas to this expression. Believing as I do, 
most sincerely, that no other kind of warfare is jus- 
tifiable, without an express revelation from heaven: 
believing, that the prayers of the saints ought not to 
be withheld from those who are engaged in such a 
contest, and ought not to be offered in support of 
any other: knowing too, that agreeable to this rule, 
God approves of exertions and accepts of prayers, 
I feel it my duty, while addressing myself in Jeho- 
v.Ufs name, to the Lord's people, to define the term 
t<> which so much importance is attached. This is 
the more necessary, because, while the words are on 

* Luke xiv.31, 32. 



DEFENSIVE WAR. J 21 

the lips of every one, the expression itself is some- 
what equivocal ; and pains have been taken, in the 
common vehicles of current intelligence — in the pri- 
vate intercourse of social life — in the halls of legis- 
lation — and even in the pulpits of the churches, to 
play upon the terms, to increase their obscurity, 
and to give to them a meaning as erroneous as it is 
injurious, to the interests of this empire. 

The expression, defensive war, is somewhat equivo- 
cal. I explain myself by a reference to the courts of 
law. When I apply to defence the term righteousness, 
and to offence, the term iniquity, I am to be understood 
as speaking upon moral principles. Offensive war is 
unjust, upon exactly the same grounds, that offensive 
or vexatious suits at law are immoral. Suppose one 
of you, my hearers, is attacked in your reputation, 
your property, or your person ; and perhaps your life 
itself is in danger. You avail yourself of Ihe law, 
and prosecute the aggressor, in order to prevent the 
threatened injury, or recover for the trespass. In 
doing this, you act in self-defence. You do right. 
But when the suit is commenced, the offender be- 
comes instantly, in law phraseology, the defendant, 
and you are the plaintiff at the bar. It by no means 
follows, that he who assumes the name of defendant, 
is not guilty. In the case stated, he is in fact the 
aggressor. What would you then say of a judge, 
of a counsel, of a jury, who would play upon the 
terms, defensive and offensive, and upon that use of 
law expression, proclaim you in the wrong ? 



124 THE LAWFULNESS OF 

The truth is, that in applying upon moral princi- 
ples, the epithet defensive, you must have recourse to 
the nature of the cause in controversy ; and consi- 
der the original aggressor as the offender. You are, 
in foro conscienlw, still the defendant, although he is, 
in foro legis, called by that name. 

Suppose a nation, resting in the bosom of peace, is 
suddenly attacked by another; and one of its cities is 
taken, fortified, and garrisoned by the enemy. The 
offended * nation raises an army, and in order to re- 
cover its own property, besieges the fortifications of 
the enemy. In this case, the enemy defends the fort 
against the assailant. Perhaps he makes a very he- 
roic defence. But is it this siege that gives to the war 
its character of defensive and offensive, or is it the 
original injury — the cause of the contest? Again, 
suppose this city had been thus taken by the enemy, 
without any previous declaration of war; and that 
the peaceful nation could not raise an army for the 
purpose of retaking its own territory, without a for- 
mal declaration of hostilities. Such an instrument 
appears before the world ; and the enemy thereafter 
meets it with a counter declaration, saying you have 
first declared war, I am therefore the defendant; 
would you believe him, and denominate the contest, 
upon his part, defensive and just ? Supposing again, 
that this peaceful nation, unwilling to make its own 
city the scene of confusion, of carnage, and desola- 
tion, should, instead of attempting directly to reco- 
ver it from the enemy, march an army into the ene- 



DEFENSIVE VVAK. J 25 

Bay's own territory, with design both to make repri- 
sals, which he might occupy as an equivalent, and to 
draw off the forces of that enemy from the position 
which he occupied, thereby transferring the war, 
with all its concomitant calamities, into the country 
of the original aggressor; I ask, would this transfer 
alter the moral character of the contest, and afford 
to the enemy a plea, that he is the righteous de- 
fendant ? These questions must, by every man of 
sense, be answered in the negative. It follows, of 
course, that a play upon the words offensive and de- 
fensive, although it may serve to confound and dis- 
tract the ignorant, is unworthy of any man of repu- 
tation, and entirely unbecoming the statesman or the 
chiistian. It also follows, that the question, whether 
war be on the part of any people, defensive, or of- 
fensive, depends entirely upon the causes of its com- 
mencement or continuance. 

The character of the war does not, in any case, 
depend upon the date of a declaration, or upon the 
place in which it is carried on. 

1. It does not depend upon the date of the decla- 
ration of war, whether it be offensive or defensive. 

If lawful cause of war exist, it is right to wage 
it ; and if it be right to wage it, surely it cannot be 
wrong to proclaim the intention, and explain to the 
civilized world the reasons for having recourse to 
arms. Declarations do not, according to the law of 



126 '1HE LAWFULNESS O* 

nations, make Hie war, but explain its causes.* If 
one nation should injure another, or march an army 
in order to subjugate an independent people, must 
that nation, so injured, invaded, and threatened, be 
considered as the offender, because the first in de- 
claring war ? No. It of course follows, that the date 
of the declaration of war, does nothing towards deter- 
mining its moral character as offensive or defensive. 

2. It does not depend upon the place of combat, 
whether the war be, in fact, defensive. 

The idea which I am now to oppose, is of home 
origin. The writers on moral science, and the law 
of nations, never thought it a subject worthy of dis- 
cussion, whether it was lawful to carry the war into 
an enemy's territory. Neutral territory has indeed 
been held sacred by the sentence of public law ; but 
it is too childish to set up a claim in favour of the 
aggressor in w r ar, for the exemption of his own pro- 
vinces from its calamities. The nation is one, how- 
ever numerous its members, and the offender may be 

* " Ul bclhim Icgitimum sit indictionem belli non videri necessa- 
rj'a?«." C. V. Bynkershock. 

" The universal law of nations acknowledges no general obliga- 
tion ol' making a declaration of war to the enemy, previous to a 
ommencement of hostilities." Martens, Book VIII. C. 2. Sec. 4. 

" As to the time of commencing war, it seems to be no way con- 
trary t<> natural law, to say it is at any time the injured party pleases, 
after having received an injury. The meaning of a declaration of 
w;ir seema to be, to call upon the injuring party to prevent it by re- 
paration — likewise to manifest to all other states, the justice of the 
cau Withbrspoon's Moral Philosophy, Lcc. XIII. Sec. 2 



DEFENSIVE WAR. 127 

stricken in the most vulnerable part, whether upon 
his coasts, in his colonies, or in his capital. If the 
cause of war is sustained, Great Britain never can 
be accused of injustice for the invasion of Spain and 
France y nor her allies on the continent, for inarching 
to Paris. The plea is as absurd as it is novel, that 
unoffending provinces ought not to be invaded ; the 
sailor, the soldier, the merchant, and the tenant, are 
personally considered equally inoffensive ; and for 
the same reason, none should be troubled in the con- 
test : the war may be waged, but upon no person 
whatever, except the sovereign. Who is so igno- 
rant as not to know that the sovereign is guarded, 
and unassailable but through his forces, and his 
country? Who so blind as not to see that war is 
waged against the nation as a body politic, and of 
course, so far as the end of war can be promoted 
thereby against every member of that body. It is 
not the member attacked, but the nature of the con- 
test ; it is not the place of the battle, but the cause 
in controversy, that determines the moral character 
of an existing war. 

My definition of defensive war is, The application 
of force by one commonwealth to another, for the pur- 
pose of preventing or redressing actual injuries inflict- 
ed or about to be inflicted. 

As to tiie equity of the war, little depends upon the 
magnitude of the injury. This consideration will of 
course determine its expediency. If the evil inflict- 
ed be small there is less excuse, upon the part of 



(28 THE LAWFULNESS OF 

Ihe aggressor, for persisting in it at the risk of an 
ippeal to arms. He is not entitled to impunity, on 
account of its being unimportant, provided it be a 
violation of right. It is for the offended party to 
judge of the proper measure of his own patience 
under suffering, and of the time and place, in which 
it is expedient for him to seek redress. Although 
the injury be only about to be inflicted, he may just- 
ly apply force to prevent it : a declaration of war 
previous to actual hostility, entitles the other to 
commence hostilities ; and actions, which amount to 
a declaration, give the same right. 

In such an important inquiry as this, 1 wish you, 
ray brethren, to judge conscientiously for yourselves. 
I shall lay before you, therefore, in confirmation of 
my definition, the sentiments of approved writers on 
public law, and moral philosophy ; and 1 shall then 
direct you to the bible, in order to put the question 
at rest. 

1. The Authority of Writers on Public Law. 

These writers have with one voice declared them- 
selves in favour of the principles of defensive war, 
which I have laid down. They uniformly represent 
the lawful object of war as threefold; precaution 
against injury — resistance to its progress — and re- 
dress lor what has already been inflicted. When a 
nation is threatened with evil, war is lawfully waged 
in order to prevent it — this is precaution. When the 
national rights are in fact invaded, they may be de- 



DEFENSIVE WAR; 129 

fended by the sword — this is resistance: and after a 
people have suffered injustice, they may declare war 
to recover an equivalent to their loss — this is redress : 
and all these are considered as defensive war. The 
rights, for the vindication of which, it is proper to 
contend with the sword, are capable of being reduced 
under three heads — Liberty — Property — and Na- 
tional Honour. War in vindication of any of these 
rights, is legitimate according to the maxims of pub- 
lic law. I give you my authorities. 

" There are causes for which we undertake war by 
the conduct of nature, as in the cause of defence— 
Because the law of nature is violated, war is under- 
taken. There is a threefold defence, necessary, 
profitable, and honest ; yet we shall deem them all 
necessary. This defence is necessary, against whom 
an armed enemy comes — I call that a profitable de- 
fence, when we move war, fearing lest we ourselves 
should be warred upon — Honest defence is underta- 
ken for other men's sakes ; to free him to whom in- 
jury is done, out. of the hand of the injurious." 
Al. Gentilis, De Jure belli et pads. 

" War is offensive on the part of the sovereign 
who commits the first act of violence. It is defen- 
sive upon the part of him who receives the first act 
of violence. Nothing short of the violation of a 
perfect right, either committed, committing, or with 
which a nation is threatened in future, can justify the 
undertaking of a war : on the other hand, every such 
violation, when proved, and when amicable means 

17 



]30 THE LAWFULNESS OF 

have been tried in Tain, or when it is evident that it 
would he useless to try such means, justifies the in- 
jured parly in resorting to arms:' Martens, Book 
VIII. C. 2. See. 2, 3. 

" The objects of just war, are precaution, defence, 
or reparation. In a larger sense, every just war is 
a defensive war, inasmuch as every just war sup- 
poses an injury perpetrated, attempted, or feared:' 
Paley's Moral Phil C. 12. 

" The causes of commencing Avar, are the viola- 
tion of any perfect right — as taking away the 
property of the other state, or the lives of its subjects, 
or restraining them in their industry, or hindering 
them in the use of things common. The preservation 
of our property implies, that if others' take such 
measures as are not to be accounted for, but upon 
the supposition of an intention of wronging me, it is 
often easier and safer to prevent and disarm the rob- 
ber, than to suffer him to commit the violence." 
AYithfrspoon's Mor. Phil. Lee. 13. 

I might easily multiply testimonies, should it bf 
deemed necessary ; but I forbear. There is not one 
writer upon public law, who would venture his re- 
putation before the world, by denying the principles 
of legitimate war, which I have stated. And it worst 
of all becomes the apologists of that nation, with 
which this republic is now at war, (a nation which is 
itself scarcely ever at peace with its neighbours,) to 
refuse (heir assent to the doctrine here laid down. 



DEFENSIVE WAR. 13} 

if it be criminal to defend by the sword, the rights 
which have been mentioned, no excuse whatever re- 
mains for the mistress of the ocean, as her votaries 
denominate the empire of Great Britain. 

Addressing myself to christians, however, in the 
name of the Author of religion, 1 draw, from the 
rule and the instructions of my embassy, the most 
conclusive arguments. 

2. The Testimony of the Bible. 

We refer you only to three historical facts. They 
have the sanction of his authority who is alone Lord of 
the conscience. They serve to show that war is law- 
ful when waged in defence of liberty, whether civil 
or religious — in defence of property — or in defence 
of national honour and independence.* 

* In the history of the sufferings of the Rev. Alexander Shields, 
written by himself, an account is given of bis examination before 
the privy council, and the justiciary of Scotland, in the reign of 
James II. where he argued the justness of defensive war. The 
same doctrine was afterwards vindicated in his dispute with the 
Bishops, to whom he was referred. 

He maintained his principles with great force and copiousness of 
argument. 1. From the law of nature. 2. From the practice of 
nations. 3. From the scriptures. He under the third head, par- 
ticularly insists upon the love of liberty, which Christianity inspires 
and cultivates, as exemplified, 1. In the wars of defence against ty- 
ranny, which the saints waged ; and, 2. Which revelation sanctions. 

I. He gives eight historical instances of the practice of the Lord's 
people in defensive war: viz. The Maccabees — The Bohemians — 
The Waldenses — The German Protestants — The Hollanders— 
The French Huguenots— The Poles — And the Scottish Reform- 



|32 THE LAWFULNESS OF 

1. The Patriarch Abraham waged war for the re- 
covery of connexions taken captive, and of property 
illegally seized. This is the first instance of war- 
fare 3 recorded in the scriptures. The narrative is 
given by the prophet Moses, Gen. xiv. That it is 
an instance of lawful war, is evident, not only from 
the equity of the cause, but also from the character 
of the friend of God, Abraham, the father of the 
faithful ; from the success given to his enterprize as 
a blessing from the Lord ; and from the benediction 
passed upon him by Melchizedek, who received, as 
the priest of the Most High God, tithes of all that 
he had when he returned home in triumph. Verses 
18, 20. And Melchisedek king of Salem brought forth 
bread and wine, and he nas the priest of the Most 
High God. And he blessed him, and said, blessed 

ere. He proves beyond a doubt, that wherever true religion pre- 
vailed, there was a spirit of resistance to despotic power. 

II. From scripture he presents five conclusive arguments. 1. 
Approved Examples, of which he adduces fifteen from Abraham to 
Esther and Mordecai. 2. Scripture reproofs for passive obedience 
and non-resistance, of which he adduces two, Jacob's prophecy, and 
the song of Deborah. 3. Scripture promises to valour in lawful 
Avar, of which he enforces fourteen instances taken from the Old 
and New Testament. 4. Scripture precepts for resisting injury with 
(be sword. Of these he produces seven examples. 5. Scripture 
prayers for war and for victory, of wbich he gives five conclusive 
instances. 

Thus did he vindicate the lawfulness of resistance, to the arbi- 
trary and Erastian power, exercised by the throne of Britain eves 
its own subjects; thus did Mr. Shields defend the practice of those 
suffering christians, who were attached to the reformation interest 
in Scotland, and who, on account of their love of liberty and 
righteousness, had the name of Whigs first applied to them, by the 
Advocates of arbitrary power in church and in state. 



DEFENSIVE WAR. J S3 



be Abram — and blessed be the Most High God rvhich 
hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. 



The origin of this war, for undertaking which God 
blessed Abram, was as follows. Five confederated 
princes, in the neighbourhood of Sodom, where Lot 
the nephew of Abram lived, had been reduced un- 
der tribute to Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and served 
him twelve years. In the thirteenth year they rebel- 
led. And in the fourteenth year came Chedorlaomer, 
with three other princes as his allies, to crush the said 
rebellion. The four allied monarchs succeeded in 
conquering their five confederated enemies. Their 
cities were plundered ; the citizens were taken cap- 
tive ; and Lot was among the number of the prison- 
ers. When Abram heard this, he armed his three 
hundred and eighteen servants, and assisted by three 
neighbouring princes, Mamre, Eshcol, and Aner, who 
acted as his auxiliaries, he pursued the victorious 
foe, returning with his booty to his own land, The 
distance they had to go from the plains of Jordan to 
Elam and Shinar, to Chaldea and Persia, was 
great. Abram overtook them, and defeated them at 
Van, but he found it necessary to carry on the pur- 
suit, far beyond the bounds of Palestine to the neigh- 
bourhood of Damascus. 

Here then, is a war carried on, beyond the 
limits of their own territory, by Abram and his al- 
lies; and that for the recovery of their friends who 
| were taken prisoners, and in order to rescue from 
I the enemy the spoils of Sodom and the other cities 



J34 THK LAWFULNESS OP 

of the plain. It was a defensive war, waged for re- 
dress of injury received — waged in behalf of liberty, 
and for personal property captured by another power. 
Abraham's conscience was too enlightened, and the 
v|)ii it of his troops too courageous, to invent pre- 
tended scruples about geographical boundaries ; their 
sense of personal liberty was too keen and honour- 
able, to think of expense and danger, when their 
friends and their countrymen were taken away by 
force from their employments and their homes. It 
remained for a people of a different spirit from that 
which influenced the father of the faithful, to call in 
question, the legitimacy of making war, beyond the 
limits of their own country, for the purpose of reco- 
vering property unjustly captured, and for releasing 
their fellow-citizens held in bondage. 

2. Gideon, by the command of his God, waged war 
against Midian, in order to recover the liberties of 
Israel, as well as the enjoyment of the fruits of their in- 
dustry. The history is found in Judges, Chap. vi. and 
viii. It appears that the Midianites, and the Amalek- 
iics took possession of the fields of Palestine ; and 
banished from the forms which they had formerly 
cultivated, the tenants of the soil. Those who were 
permitted to remain in their possessions, had to hide 
their ^heaves when reaped, and to thresh their corn 
in Becret, lest they should become a prey. Such an 
uncertain tenu re of property was a great vexation. 
Frequent spoliations constituted an injury which re- 
quired an appeal to arms for resistance and redress. 
I 'to Lord God directed that hostilities be forthwith 



DEFENSIVE WAR. I3i.» 

commenced. Gideon obeyed ; and he delivered his 
country. The war was undertaken, principally, in 
defence of property, for obtaining and enjoying which 
liberty is essentially necessary. The Israelites, rous- 
ed to action by the divine blessing, and led on to 
battle by the son of Joash, pursued the enemy be- 
yond the Jordan, to the cities at the head of Arnon. 
Regarding the cause in which they were engaged,, 
they thought not of limiting their defence by an 
imaginary line, until the end for which they took 
up arms was accomplished. They had to find and 
fight an enemy; and they had no objection to meet 
him on his own territory. Gideon went up on the 
east of Nobah, learning that Zcba and Zalmunna 
were in Karkor. He put them to flight ; pushed 
the victory ; overtook the two kings ; made them 
prisoners, and returned in triumph to his own coun- 
try. 

3. The last instance to which I shall refer you, is 
selected from the history of the son of Jesse. 

The narrative is found in 1 Chron. xix. and in 
2 Sam. x. The case is as follows: Nahash, king 
of the Ammonites, had shown friendship to Da- 
vid before he mounted the throne of Israel ; and at 
his death, David sent ambassadors to pay his respects 
to Hanun his son and successor. The young king, 
influenced by the evil advice of his courtiers, insulted 
these ambassadors, by shaving off their beards, and 
disfiguring their garments. David heard of this, and 
indignant at the insult, prohibited the return of his 



130 THE LAWFULNESS Ol 

servants to the capital, until the reproach should be 
wiped away. Tarry at Jericho until your beards be 
grown. The children of Amnion understood the 
character of the king of Israel too well, to imagine, 
that he would put up with the indignity thus showed 
to his crown, in the persons of his public servants : 
and they accordingly made immediate preparation to 
meet the necessary consequences. They saw thai 
they made themselves odious to David ; and they called 
upon their numerous allies to come to their as- 
sistance. An army is collected to defend the land of 
Moab ; and they encamp before the gates of their 
own principal frontier city, Medeba. In the mean 
time David was neither idle nor terrified. He or- 
dered Joab, at the head of his army, to march to the 
contest. The order was obeyed. The enemy was 
attacked in his own country ; and, before the gates 
of Medeba, the Syrians and Ammonites, although 
acting upon the defensive, were routed by the in- 
vading armies of Israel. The Syrians rallied, being 
reinforced from beyond the Euphrates. After retiring 
to Helam, Hadarezer, their king, waited there, until 
David with the Israelitish militia came and gave him 
battle. This second victory put an end to the Sy- 
rian war. Joab continued his success against the 
Ammonites, until having taken their capital, Rabbah, 
by storm, they also yielded to the conqueror. 

This narrative explains the doctrine of legitimate 
warfare, and confirms, completely, what I have al- 
ready said, in defining defensive war. Actual war 
was first commenced by David, and it was com- 



DEFENSIVE WAR. 137 

menced too beyond the line of his own territory. It 
was prosecuted, moreover, against both the Am- 
monites and the Syrians, in their own counti % , until 
Kabbah was totally demolished, and the Syrians 
forced to submit to an Israelitish garrison established 
in Damascus. 

It is not the time of declaring war, or of making 
the attack, nor is it the place in which the war is car- 
ried on, that determines its character. In every in- 
stance, except in giving the first offence, the Ammon- 
ites in this war acted upon the defensive. They 
never left their own country. They defended their 
own cities and their own firesides: but Israel came 
upon them, fought them, and subdued them. Still, 
however, this was, upon the part of Ammon, an of- 
fensive war, and on the part of David, a defensive war. 
The honour of his crown was affected by the indig- 
nity done to his ambassadors; and rather than be 
constrained to make suitable atonement, the Am- 
monites called their allies to their aid, and prepared 
for resistance. The king of Israel was a man of 
sense, a man of spirit, and a man of piety. He was 
too much of a soldier, a moralist, and a statesman, to 
say or to think, after he had first received the inju- 
ry, that a war in defence of the honour and indepen- 
dency of his country, ought not to commence upon 
his part until the enemy attacked him in his own do- 
minions. He saved his own kingdom, and made the 
provinces of the offender the theatre of the contest. 
Under the influence of the Holy Spirit, he prayed 
for his armies, while besieging the cities of the Am- 

18 



|38 THE LAWFULNESS OF 

moniles, as sincerely, and as acceptably to God, as if 
petitions were offered for Israel besieged by an ene- 
mv at the sates of Jerusalem. It is the cause of 
war that determines its morality: and David did not 
enter upon the bloody strife without a cause. He 
lived in a martial age. However much disposed to 
peace himself, the welfare of his people required the 
preservation of their independence. Of this there 
was little probability unless they were prepared for 
vindicating it by the sword. Had he suffered the in- 
sult to escape with impunity, he would have invited 
another and another, until the spirit of the people 
should be broken down, and his own pusillanimity be- 
come a byword. He chose the better part. He 
H aged war to punish the insolence of Hanun, and to 
vindicate the honour and preserve the independence of 
his country. He was approved of God. He suc- 
ceeded. 

This, then, was lawful cause of war. Do you 
doubt it? For what then did David order Joab to 
the I tattle ? Because the enemy were preparing to give 
battle to him. Very well. This I confess is a good 
reason. You admit this. You acknowledge, then, 
that if my enemy is preparing to give me battle, I 
may, without waiting for invasion, become myself 
the invader, and carry the war, for precaution, into 
\\\< territory. You admit this. I ask no more. 
This is enough. Invasion for precaution, is defen- 
iii war. You fortify my argument. But you do 
nut do justice 1<> the king of Israel. The Ammon- 
- knew bis character better than you do. Why 



DEFENSIVE WAK. 139 

tlid they call upon the Syrians to help them? Why 
did they encamp before Medeba ? They knew they 
were guilty. They knew they deserved punishment. 
They knew David had magnanimity. They knew 
him better than you appear to do. They expected 
vengeance from the minister of God. They pre- 
pared for resistance. They saw that they had made 
themselves odious — that they stank before JDaiid. And 
we all know, that they received adequate punish- 
ment for their offences. 

I have done. I have laid down the doctrine of 
legitimate warfare, from the writers on public law,* 
and from the word of God. I have only to add, 

* M. de Vattel, admits the legitimacy of offensive war. But in 
his definition of it, he means no more, than we and other writers, 
in conformity to christian phraseology, include under the term de- 
fensive. He differs from us on this subject only in words. The 
sentiment is the same. " We may set down this triple end as the 
distinguishing characteristic of a lawful war. 1. To recover what 
belongs, or is due to us. 2. To provide for our future safety, by 
punishing the aggressor, or offender. 3. To defend ourselves from 
an injury, by repelling an unjust violence. The two first are the ob- 
jects of an offensive, the third, that, of a defensive war. Camillls 
when he was going to attack the Gacls, concisely represented to 
his soldiers all the causes which can justify a war: omnia qua de- 
fendi, repetique, ct ulcisci,fas est." B. III. C. 3. 

Notwithstanding the general accuracy of this distinguished wri- 
ter, it appears to me improper to call that an offensive war, which 
is, according to the definition, 2. To provide for our safety by punish- 
ing the offender. Certainly it ought not be called offensive to punish 
the offender. According to the writer himself, however, this is 
lawful war. The cause of the contest detfrmincs its morality : and 
this is the principle which I wish to establish. 



J 40 THE LAWFULNESS OF 

III. When a nation is engaged in a lawful war, it 
is the duty of all to afford it their support. 

This part of my discourse does not require much 
proof or illustration. Its truth will be generally ad- 
mitted. The usual way of opposing belligerent 
measures, is by calling in question the necessity, or 
expediency, of having recourse to them ; and this 
apology for opposition seems to acknowledge, that if 
war is necessary and equitable, it ought to be waged 
with the undivided force of the empire. Under ab- 
solute governments there is no examination of the 
character of any war necessary upon the part of the 
subject : he must obey ; he is forced to give support 
to the contest in which his king is embarked. It is 
only in states, which are in some degree free, that 
there is need or use for argument ; because in them 
only is the reason of the subject called to exercise. 
It is in a free country, too, that the citizens should 
best understand the moral character of war, and 
when lawful, bestow upon it their most decided sup- 
port. Such a war is their own. However diversi- 
fied the pursuits, the interests, and the opinions of 
the men who constitute a free and well-regulated 
commonwealth ; there is no propriety in their being 
divided upon a question which respects resistance to 
foreign aggression. Subjects of local concern may 
be variously discussed, and perfect unanimity at the 
same time be displayed against the common foe. It 
may not suit the taste of every one to repair to the 
camp, and take an active part even in the most just 



DEFENSIVE WAR. 11 J 

war : nor is there any necessity for this. In some 
cases it would be improper to relinquish other du- 
ties, and seize the sword of defence itself. Nay, it 
is possible, that in a just war, those who conduct it, 
may order what it would be criminal to perform, and 
may impose conditions of service with which it 
would not be lawful to comply. These and other 
accidental evils may be examined, reproved, resisted, 
and corrected, and yet the cause of war sustained, 
and the ends of the war prosecuted by the whole 
community. 

That it is criminal not to support a just war, I ar- 
gue in the following manner. Such a course of con- 
duct, Promotes the injustice of the enemy — Prolongs the 
war with nil its concomitant evils — and is Prohibited 
by the Lord. 

1. // promotes the injustice of the enemy. Silence* 
signs, words, and actions — whatsoever, in its place, 
tends to prevent exertion in obtaining redress for in- 
jury, encourages the spirit which inflicted the inju- 
ry, and so promotes the claims of injustice. When 
war is commenced, the contest is of course for victo- 
ry. He, who desires that victory should avenge in- 
jury, and vindicate equity, will be at no loss to say 
to which side his affections incline. Every man in a 
free state is of some value. His opinions and hi< 
words have some influence. They ought always to 
be on the side of equity : and if our affections in- 
cline to those who wage a defensive war, we so far 
promote the good of human society. Never should 



|42 THE LAWFULNESS OF 

the christian, under any pretence whatever, speak or 
act so as to encourage offence against the rights of 
society ; so as to encourage the injustice of the foe, 
or to prevent the due execution of punishment upon 
the aggressor by the forces employed by an injured 
nation. Whether he engage in hostilities or not, 
every part of his deportment, and especially his 
prayers, should unequivocally promote the success of 
the legitimate side of the question. 

2. Those who withhold their support from the war 
in which their country is engaged, do what tends to 
prolong the evil. 

When appeal is once made to the law of force, the 
parties, if they do not cease to reason, employ dis- 
cussion only as an auxiliary to the sword. It then 
becomes a contest for victory. The aggressor, influ- 
enced originally by principles of injustice, is not 
likely to be corrected by his own success. The his- 
tory of nations affords no instance of claims, which 
occasioned war, being relinquished by the offending 
party, merely because the resistance of the other 
was feeble. When a people are divided, they offer 
themselves an easy prey to the aggressor; and even, 
if they should ultimately succeed in redressing the 
evil, their weakness and discord certainly prolongs 
the contest. A protracted warfare, although ulti- 
mately successful, is a present evil ; and the friends 
of a speedy peace will always, in war, be desirous 
to employ the energy which alone can deserve and 
secure a peace. With the work of death none 



DEFENSIVE WAR. 143 

should trifle. It is ruinous — It is cruel to prolong, 
unnecessarily, even a war of defence. In so far as 
any member of the community, in public or in pri- 
vate, distracts the councils, or impedes the progress 
of those who conduct the war, he evidently prolongs 
the contest, and does what he can to prevent the re- 
turn of peace. So far the guilt of a protracted war- 
fa) e is chargeable upon him. It is, indeed, an evi- 
dence of the displeasure of the Deity, when a people, 
instead of unanimously co-operating for punishing 
the aggressor, are so divided and enfeebled, as to 
prolong, for years, a contest which might be brought 
to a successful issue, almost immediately after its 
commencement. The man who withholds his sup- 
port in such a case, is the enemy of peace : he loves 
his party more than he does his country, more than 
he does honour, and justice ; more even than hu- 
manity, or his own interest connected with the re- 
turn of peace, who strives, for the sake of party, to 
enfeeble the arm of authority, to withhold the ne- 
cessary resources, and to discourage the soldier. 

3. The Lord of the universe, who is also the God 
of battles, reproves those, who withhold from their 
country, their support in a lawful war. 

If the terms upon which your country otters 
friendship and peace to the enemy be reciprocal and 
just, you are wrong to discourage your country, and 
so encourage the foe. If in your conscience you 
believe the terms offered to be just, you are self-con- 
demned if you do not support your country in the 



144 THE LAWFULNESS O* 

contest. The immoral and irreligious tendency of 
war; its pains, its losses, and its dangers, proclaim the 
duty of having done with it as soon as possible. It 
is criminal to protract it; and of course, it is dis- 
pleasing to the Deity not to push it vigorously 
to an end. 

He is a God of justice and of truth. He will have 
us to judge righteous judgment. He commands us 
to love the truth and the peace ; and to promote the 
knowledge and the practice of equity. Therefore 
he reproves those who do not support an equitable 
war, as the cause of God, the Supreme Judge. 
Judges v. 23. Curse ye Meroz, (said the angel of 
the Lord) curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; be- 
cause they came not to the help of the Lord, to the 
help of the Lord against the mighty. 

The part of Jewish history, in which this reproof 
is found, asserts the sovereignty of God, and places 
the female character in a striking light. The words 
quoted are used in the song of Deborah, the wife of 
Lapidotk, who by an extraordinary providence was 
raised up to the rank and the office of judge in the 
commonwealth of Israel. In the song itself, we 
have an instance of female genius, under the infiu- 
ence of divine inspiration, and glowing with poetic ar- 
dour, patriotism, and prowess. The prophetess ap- 
pears, " giving breath to the trumpet of war," rousing 
the spirit of her slumbering cotemporaries, and di- 
ne I'm- "the embattled host" to contend for the li- 
••« if y of her much injured country, to conquer and 



DEFENSIVE WAR. 145 

to triumph. The eighty years of peace and pros- 
perity, with which the tribes of Jacob had been fa- 
voured, after the death of Eglon king of Moab their 
persecutor, had enervated that people, and so occa- 
sioned their ignoble submission to the tyrannical 
encroachments of Jab in the Canaanitish king. Twen- 
ty years did this neighbouring despot insult the Is- 
raelitish commonwealth, and peculiarly vex and op- 
press the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali. Sisera, 
the captain of his host, was one of the most able and 
distinguished warriors of the age, and had at his com- 
mand an armament well arranged, and consequently 
formidable to a people who loved the arts of peace. 
The people of Israel, besides, separated into twelve 
distinct and independent principalities, and having 
no standing army to fight their battles, were not ea- 
sily brought to co-operate so as unanimously to pour 
forth their militia, the only forces of the nation, in 
order to chastise aggression. 

Under these circumstances a female appeared des- 
tined of the Lord to deliver her country from de- 
struction, from insult, and from injury. Awakened, 
by present oppression, Deborah relinquished her 
ease and retirement under Ihe palms of Mount 
Ephraim, and summoned along with her to the field of 
blood Barak the son of Abinoam, at the head of ten 
thousand undisciplined volunteers, to contend for 
empire with veteran troops supported by nine hun- 
dred chariots of iron. Barak was victorious. Sisera 
fell. Israel was delivered. Peace was restored. 
Those who supported the war, and waged it to a suc- 

19 



44(5 CONCLUSION. 

cessful issue, are praised of the Lord ; and they who 
refused their co-operation, are placed by the pro- 
phetess under a divine malediction. 

Ephraim, and Benjamin, and lssachar, these tribes 
that maintained the war, are commended. Reuben, 
split into factions by party spirit, occasioned lamen- 
tations in Israel — For the divisions of Reuben there 
were great searchings of heart. Two of the tribes 
were remarkable for their power and patriotism — 
Zebulwn and Naphtali were a people who jeoparded 
their lives unto the death in the high places of the 
field. Upon Meroz, who entirely withheld her sup- 
port, when the cause of her country prohibited neu 
trality — upon Meroz fell the curse of God. 

THE CONCLUSION 

From these premises is obvious to all my beaters. 
When your country is at war in defence of her 
rights, it is your duty to encourage, by all lawful 
means, her exertions in the strife. It is criminal 
to diminish her strength, or impede her progress. 
To this principle I would call your notice from the 
P'dpit, while our friends and our brethren from 
the adjacent country are assembled around our city. 
to defend it from attack : while those among: our 
fellow-worshippers in this house, who are fit to bear 
arms, are practising in the field the arts of defensive 
warfare: while all ranks and classes of our fellow- 
citizens are employing their hands and their money 
in raising bulwarks on every assailable point, to 



CONCLUSION. 147 

protect our homes and our places of public worship, 
let us accompany them with our wishes and our 
prayers, lest we become an enslaved people. 

Far be it from me to take advantage of the gene- 
ral alarm, to impel you to a forgetfulness of the 
duties which you owe to yourselves, to truth, and 
to your country, relative to those who have been 
entrusted, by the suffrages of a free people, to ad- 
minister their government; to make, to apply, and 
to execute the laws. Examine, yes, examine, with 
rigorous impartiality, their character and their acts : 
speak out: blame them when they do wrong: But 
forget not your country. Unite in her defence — in 
defence of her injured rights. Support those who 
wield the sword, and who direct its application- 
support them with the means necessary to convince 
the enemy that, whatever may be the domestic 
strife for influence, for place, and for power, in re- 
gard to those who have taken your friends, and your 
fellow-citizens into captivity, who have interrupted 
and despoiled your trade upon the ocean, who have 
violated your neutrality, and who lay claim to 
your soil, — in regard to them, convince the enemy, 
convince your own rulers, and the whole world, that 
you have but one mind. Defensive war is lawful — 
a brave people have the prospect of success — and 
a moral people will prosecute the contest to a suc- 
cessful termination. — Amen. 



THE PRESENT WAR 



tfAXS.- 



SERMON IV. 

With good advice make war. Prov. xx. 18. 

A HE principles of this proverb I have already 
stated and defended. To-day you expect the ap- 
plication. If the general doctrines laid down in the 
preceding discourse be admitted, we can proceed 
harmoniously in applying them to existing circum- 
stances ; but if the truth of these be disputed, we 
leave the case to your reflections, without urging our 
sentiments ; well convinced of the difficulty of con- 
vincing men against their own inclinations. In order 
to refresh your recollection, and that you may judge 
fairly of the correctness of their application to the 
present war, I repeat the principles argued in the 
preceding sermon upon the same text. 

War is in some cases moral, 

Reason and Revelation prove this. 

War in defence of property, liberty, and na- 
tional INDEPENDENCE AND HONOUR IS LAWFUL : AND 



IjU the present war. 

DEFENSIVE WAR MAY BE FOR PRECAUTION, RESISTANCE, 
OB REDRESS. 

Common Sense — Writers on Public Law — and the 
Word of God, prove this. The cases of Abram, Gi- 
deon, and David, furnish examples in illustration. 

Support ought to be given to a just war. 

A sense of Justice — the love of Peace — and the Sa~ 
> red Scriptures, prove this assertion. It is illustrated 
by the inspired Song of Deborah. 

Should any of my hearers, anticipating the appli- 
cation, which I would make of these principles to the 
American side of the present war, either express a 
doubt of their correctness, or deny their truth, I 
have not entirely lost my object. I take you at 
your option. However you may be disposed to con- 
sider your own country as the most guilty in the pre- 
sent contest, if you admit the principles which I 
have now repeated, the justice of this war upon our 
part will necessarily follow; and if you reject the 
general truths laid down, the superior injustice of the 
enemy will, in order to be consistent, be admitted 
by you. Take your choice; and let us reason to- 
g< ther. 

1 . Do you deny the lawfulness of war in any case i 

So lit it be. I shall join with you for the time, in 
A precating it^ numerous evils. It flows from the 



THE PRESENT WAR. 151 

malevolent passions ; and it encourages and strength- 
ens the vicious passions from which it flows. It ar- 
rests the progress of improvement in society. It 
impoverishes countries ; and lays waste the cities of 
the nations. It exposes to temptations, and cor- 
rupts the youth. It exposes to danger and to death. 
It hurries into eternity, in an unprepared state, thou- 
sands of our thoughtless fellow-sinners, who might 
otherwise have had time and space of repentance. If 
it be entirely unlawful, it must of course be the 
greatest of crimes which man commits against man : 
and the nation which wages war is guilty of a hei- 
nous offence against the moral Governor of the 
world. Upon your principles, war is a national 
crime ; and the nation is guilty before God, and in 
your own estimation, in proportion to the magni- 
tude of the offence. The greater the war, the 
greater the guilt. Piety too, abhors guilty nations. 
You, therefore, who consider war as a crime, will 
abhor nations in proportion to the extent of the wars 
in which they are concerned. Apply this. Blame 
vour own country for her three years war. Set her 
down as guilty. Abhor her in due proportion. Lift 
up your voice against your rulers, who caused the 
nation to err, and are foremost in the crime. But 
what do you say of our foe ? Great Britain is also 
at war with us. You say, war is unlawful ; then, 
she too is guilty. Do you admit this ? Her guilt is 
of older date. It is of greater extent. It is of 
longer duration. She is scarcely ever at peace. 
Her guilt, upon your own principles, surpasses the 
guilt of all the nations of the earth. During the 



|52 THE PRESENT WAR. 

Ia<t fifty years, she has shed more blood in India 
Han lias been shed in Europe : and in all the wars of 
Km-ope she is a party. Do you then believe she is 
the most guilty nation upon earth? Say so. Let 
your conversation and your political opinions mani- 
fest that you are in earnest. Show, that it is the 
abhorrence of all war from a pure conscience, and not 
i political bias against this republican country, the 
least guilty of the crime of war, that induces you to 
reprobate the contest. Declare, unequivocally, that 
as all war is unjust; as the guilt is in proportion to 
the extent and duration of the criminality, Great 
Britain is guilty of the greatest national injustice. 
You cannot avoid this conclusion. You cannot 
avoid the charge of insincerity, if you do not readi- 
ly adopt this conclusion. But I have not yet done 
with this subject. I will try you further by your 
own moral maxims. All war is crime — A nation is 
guilty in proportion to the scale upon which it sins by 
carrying on war. These are your maxims. Then 
you declare that the power of the British empire is 
founded in crime. War hath raised her to her pre- 
sent splendour. Behold her navy — what you call 
the instrument of her guilt. It is her support and 
her glory. It is that very navy too, which hath 
proved the cause of our war with her. If we are 
guilty for going to war; she at least was the tempter. 
It was her war — according to your maxim, her crime; 
it was her (rime against other powers that affected 
our neutrality, and of course produced the rupture. 
^h<- despoiled our trade; she took seamen from our 
peaceful vessels. She forced 1hem to the service of 



THE PRESENT WAK. L';.'5 

sin ; for you say war is sinful. Britain then, enga- 
ged with other nations in crime, sought occasion 
to force some of our people to take part in that 
crime. She committed a crime upon us. She is still 
guilty of the same crime. She continues at war. If, 
then, war is in all cases unjust, she is the most un- 
just. Examine your own hearts. Try, by your at- 
tachments, the degree of influence which your sen- 
timents have over vour inclinations; and most as- 
suredly, you can no longer consider yourselves sin- 
cere, if opposed to all war, you yet remain the parti- 
sans of England in her strife with America. You 
will, if conscientious, speak and act in such a manner 
as to be above suspicion : and you will do me, I hope, 
the justice to acknowledge, that not my argument, 
but your own principle, holds up to the moral world 
the government of England as most worthy of chris- 
tian abhorrence. 

2. You will, perhaps, admit, that defensive war is 
lawful, but deny my definition of it to be correct. 
Will you give us your own definition of defensive 
warfare ? Will you exclude precaution and redress, 
and confine it to resistance upon your own soil against 
invasion ? I am satisfied : not, indeed, with the cor- 
rectness of your views, but with the sufficiency of 
your own admission to the object which I have in 
view — to convince you that Great Britain is still the 
more guilty nation. Let then the definition you 
have given, contrary as it is to all authority, be the 
one adopted in the present case. Resistance to an 
invading enemy is alone lawful war. 

20 



( 01 fliK PRESENT WAR. 

# 

This is your definition. You will allow me again 
to urge the duly of consistency. Abide by the ap- 
plication of your own definition. Tell me then, 
when did England wage a lawful war? When was 
her soil invaded? Are her armies confined to her 
own soil ? Is her fleet confined within the limits of 
her own waters? Was it within British seas she 
blockaded the ports of the nations, plundered our 
merchants, searched our vessels, and captivated our 
mariners? No, my friends. According to your views 
of lawful war, England is the disturber of the na- 
tions: and her crime is her glory. She is proud 
that her soil is in safety. She triumphs in the idea, 
that her armies have overrun the provinces of her 
enemy. She boasts of wielding the trident over the 
ocean, and in the ports of the several nations of the 
earth. By your definition, as the apologists of Eng- 
land, you may condemn as immoral the achievement? 
of our Browns, and our Scotts, our Gaines, and our 
Porters — You may condemn the invasion of Canada 
by the American arms: but certainly, you have an 
equal degree of guilt to balance, the account of 
criminality, between the belligerents, in the capture 
of Detroit, the invasion of Flattsburgh, the posses- 
sion of Castine, the plunders of the Chesapeake, and 
of the cities which lie on its rivers, and its shores : 
and there is yet a vast portion of guilt to which there 
is no parallel. If it be unlawful to pass in war, the 
limits of our own country, you may blot from the 
number of your saints, the names of Abraham, and 
David, and Gideon : but you cannot justify that na- 
tion that lias died in blood the snows of Scandinavia, 



THE PRESENT WAR. 15,5 

and the sands of the Ganges ; that has kindled the 
flames of peaceful Copenhagen, and levelled to the 
dust the bulwarks of Seringapatam. 

If it be unjust to wage war for the preservation 
of property, liberty, and national dignity or inde- 
pendence, I believe it will not be easy to find in 
the history of nations a justifiable war, or any na- 
tion so innocent of shedding blood as the United 
States of America. It is impossible to reason upon 
moral principles against the side of America in the 
present war, without exposing the immorality of 
the enemy. Every argument, that can apply, in 
any one case, against this country, will, with greater 
force, apply in many cases, to the other belligerent. 
Make the experiment, and you will feel the force of 
my assertion. In the books of the wars of England, 
no cause of battle which will bear examination can 
be found, if you reject as illegitimate those which 
have been mentioned. There is only one other 
conceivable cause. War may be waged in defence of 
religious rights in opposition to persecution. Of this 
cause, however, Great Britain in her wars cannot 
avail herself. The church of England is not suffer- 
ing under persecution. She feels power ; and how- 
ever she may be charged by others with an intole- 
rant spirit, she is under no necessity of contending 
by the sword for toleration for herself. There 
was a time when English men fought for their 
religious liberties. They contended against their 
own king, his prelates, his counsellors, and his 
arms. They contended valiantly, and their valour 



156 the present war. 

deserves to lie held in everlasting remembrance. 
That day is past ; and alas ! the descendants of the 
.New-England pilgrims, the descendants of English 
and Scottish dissenters from prelatical usurpation,, 
appear to have forgotten, in their admiration of the 
grandeur of British power, the mixture of supersti- 
tion and misrule m the complex constitution of 
church and state in that land — the evil, of which their 
fathers complained, and under which they grievously 
suffered. 

There are, in the British empire, both within and 
without her present ecclesiastical political esta- 
blishment, men of virtue, of truth, of piety, who 
revere the memory of the Puritans, and who are 
themselves friends to the rights of humanity ; who 
strive to diffuse the light of Christianity among the 
nations; and avail themselves of the opportunities 
which even criminal conquest may offer for that 
purpose. But the wars of the sovereign are not for 
the defence of religion. They are political. It is 
riot by the Royal family, the counsellors, the nobles, 
or the army, that British piety is supported. It is 
riot for the honour of religion that the sacrament is 
prostituted; and that dissenters are excluded from 
power. It is not in support of the great Protestant 
cause, that Papists are kept down in Ireland, and 
raised up to all the splendour of their superstition in 
Italy, in Spain, and in France, by the arms of Eng- 
land. It is not for the sake of Christianity, in 
the most extensive use of that word, that a revenue 
accrues to the British government from the Pagan 



THE PRE: EXT WAR. 157 

establishments of India. The wars, in short, of our 
enemy, wherever they are w r aged, are utterly ille- 
gitimate and unjust upon the principle of the defini- 
tion which you have given, for the purpose of 
condemning, as unjust, that policy of your own 
government, which makes the provinces of the ene- 
my, in some instances, the seat of the present war. 

3. Do you give up the controversy about the na- 
ture of defensive warfare, and admit the justice 
of transferring it into the enemy's territory, but still 
deny the applicability of the cases which I have 
stated from the Bible ? 

I meet you upon this ground with cheerfulness. 
It is christian ground. Let the Bible direct our po- 
litical conduct. Let this book decide upon the prin- 
ciples which we are to apply to the belligerent na- 
tions, in determining the measure of their rights and 
their wrongs. If I have misapplied its maxims, 
give your interpretation. I will adopt your own 
comment, and show you, that if its principles condemn 
the American policy, it will also condemn, with equal 
severity, and in more numerous instances, the moral 
character of British wars, for which you are an apo- 
logist against your country. You will again have 
an opportunity of examining, as a sincere christian, 
your own heart, and of trying, before your God, 
your scruples relative to the present war. You can 
then determine, whether they arise from tenderness 
of conscience, or from the prejudices of foreign par- 
iialities. 



ft$8 THE PRESENT WAR. 

Oiler your objections to the proof 1 have adduced 
from the Bible. Do you say the eases are not pa- 
rallel ? I grant it. The wars of Palestine differ in 
many things from the American war. Palestine 
itself differs from these lands which we occupy. 
The people too are in many things different from 
us. And yet t there are also many things in which 
their circumstances agree. But to gratify you, I 
drop all pretensions to maintain the parallel. I 
have cited the cases of Abram, Gideon, and David. 
/ have stated fads. These facts are not disputed. 
Upon the facts, / have rested principles. These 
principles may be applied. It is not in order to 
amuse you with expert analogies, or in order to run 
a parallel, that I have opened the Bible. It is for 
the purpose of exhibiting principles, and the facts 
which support and explain them. The principles 
being discovered, every man may judge of the ap- 
plication. Do you deny these principles? War is 
lawful — defensive war is lawful — to prevent, resist, 
or repair an injury, is lawful — war may be waged 
for the defence of liberty, property, and national in- 
dependence, if any of these are either threatened or 
violated. Do you deny these principles ? No ; you 
have admitted them. I will, therefore, apply them to 

The war in which our country is at present 

ENGAGED. 

In making this application of the words of inspi- 
ration, " With good advice make war" I design to 
show, that The United States have lawful cause of 



THE PRESENT WAll. 159 

war with Great Britain, and to explain The princi- 
ples upon which the war should be prosecuted. 

I. The Causes of the present tyar* 

Whatever may have been the personal wishes or 
opinions of those who recommended to the congress 
a declaration of hostilities, the instrument itself, in 
which the declaration is made, and the Report of the 
Committee of Foreign Relations, assert facts, and con- 
tain reasonings, too true, to afford the impartial 
reader an opportunity of denying, upon moral prin- 
ciples, the legitimacy of an appeal to the sword. That 
in the recommendation of war, and in the ultimate 
decision, some of the men in power may have been 
influenced by personal irritation — others, by views 
of ambition and self-interest— and others, by fear of 
giving offence to patrons, or to constituents, I do not 
take upon me to deny or to affirm. Such motives, 
in some degree, enter very generally, into the rea- 
sonings and conduct of all men, and particularly of 
politicians ; but even then, there may exist a love of 
country, and a sense of justice, modifying the less 
worthy motives. With the private, designs of indivi- 
duals, we have not in this inquiry so much to do as 
with matters of fact, which are of public notoriety. 
God judges the heart: but, it is known to the world, 
that for a series of years, the British sovereign was 
in the habit of injuring the interests and honour of 
this commonwealth. Whatever diversity of opi- 
nions may exist respecting the extent of the injury ; 
aed although the expediency and justice of the war, 



160 TtiE CAUSES O* 

at its commencement, may have been called in ques- 
tion, no man ever doubted that the application of 
the rule of the war of 1756, the orders in council? 
and the numerous blockading decrees of that nation, 
were injurious to the fair trade of America. The 
practice, too, of searching our vessels by their men 
of war, in order to impress our peaceful sailors into 
their service, as the fact has never been doubted, 
will be universally admitted to be a grievance — a 
heavy grievance to any people, and much more so 
to a free and independent, empire. 

There are two principles, christians, upon which 
you will express your accord. Whether the guilt 
of provoking the war, or of commencing it, be the 
greater, you will admit, both, that the sin, for the pu- 
nishment OF WHICH IT IS PERMITTED BY THE DEITY, 

is chargeable upon us all ; and that the cause of 
the continuance of hostilities, is different from 
that which gave it origin. If I shall have suc- 
ceeded in proving that the original grounds of 
the declaration of war were moral, there can be no 
doubt of the propriety now of resisting an invading 
foe, or of continuing the contest until it terminate 
in an equitable peace. I do not rest my argument 
entirely upon the limited idea of defence, which is 
involved in resisting invasion, although in the present 
stage of the contest, this would suffice to prove its 
justice. He is unworthy of being treated with an 
appeal to intellect or conscience, who would dispute, 
after admitting the lawfulness of war in a.ny case, 
the propriety of repelling, force by force, when a 



THE PRESENT WAR. It)} 

cession of territory is demanded at the point of the 
bayonet, and invasion with all its horrors approaches 
his own door. 

1 affirm the justice of the war from its com- 
mencement. Our neutral trade was violently op- 
posed, and almost totally destroyed ; our property 
was captured ; our fellow-citizens were enslaved, 
while peaceably pursuing their proper employment; 
and negotiation failed, after the exertion of years, to 
procure redress for the past, or immunity for the 
future. To recover and preserve property — To re- 
deem and to defend men, these are lawful causes of 
war. These are the causes of the present war. The 
argument requires neither art nor eloquence. It is 
obvious to every capacity. It is irresistible. It may 
be evaded, but it cannot be refuted. If it fail in 
extorting confession, it cannot fail in producing con- 
viction. 

American property has been seized and destroy- 
ed : American citizens have been impressed and en- 
slaved. These are the facts. 

War in defence of property, of liberty, and of 
life, is lawful. This is the principle. 

Apply the principle to the facts. The United 
States have declared war, in order to vindicate the 
rights of property, of liberty, and of life. There- 
fore is the present war, from its origin, a defensive 
and a just war, This is the argument. 

21 



i02 THE CAUSES OF 

You may speak about it, and write about it; you 
may close your eyes upon it; you may go round 
about, and fly from it : but you will in vain offer re- 
sistance to its truth. The facts are notorious. The 
principle is confessed. The application is necessary* 

I use very plain language, my brethren ; it is time 
to speak plainly upon this subject. Our country 
has suffered abundantly. Insult has been added to 
injury, by a people who regard the American repub- 
lic with an evil and a jealous eye. They consider 
this country as a commercial rival. They are 
alarmed at its rapid growth in arts, in knowledge, in 
opulence, and in power. They affect to despise 
every thing that is American. By their publica- 
cations in prose and in poetry, the English writers 
strive to keep their countrymen in ignorance of the 
land in which we live. They draw a carricature of 
our manners, our morals, our laws, and our religion. 
Their official reports, those documents in which the 
veracity of history should uniformly be found, are 
characterized by il liberality and misrepresentation.; 
In diplomacy, they have practised delay; they have 
trifled, equivocated, and insulted. They have sought 
the glory of Great Britain, at the expense of the Uni- 
ted States ; they have endeavoured to divide and to 
destroy. The hatred which they bear to our republi- 
can institutions, envenoms the spirit of rivalry, with 
which they contemplate the progress of empire in 
the new world. Resistance ought to have been made 
long before it was attempted by this nation — It 
ought to have been made with unanimity and energy- 



THE PRESENT WAR. XB'S 

In vindicating the justness of this war, upon the 
part of the United States, there is one interesting 
question, to which I think it my duty to turn your 
particular attention. It is one of the principal 
causes of the war, that British officers have, while 
acting upon the right of search, impressed mariners 
from American merchantmen. This outrage upon 
the national independence, they have endeavoured 
to justify. The practice was convenient and profit- 
able for the navy of that country ; and they sought 
for a doctrine which might serve to give to it a sem- 
blance of equity. They strove to discover some 
general principle, which -might at the same time 
gratify the national pride of England, and furnish a 
a source of allegation and dispute, among the politi- 
cal parties existing in the United States. They found 
such a maxim in the despotic tenet of perpetual 
allegiance to the crown. This maxim, never admit- 
ted by any writer upon public law, who has a regard 
to character, or is worthy of a name, is no less false 
in itself, than inapplicable to the case in hand. Were 
it even true, that a native of Britain can never of 
right throw off* his allegiance to the country which 
gave him birth, it by no means follows that the king 
lias a right to take from his employments, any of his 
subjects, to serve him against his own choice. 

1. He has not this right in his own dominions ; and 
much less can he procure it, by violating the territo- 
ry of a neighbouring nation. If he have no right to 
enter a private farmer's house in England, and force 
the son away from his father, and his mother, into 



1 1>4 'l'HE CAUSES OI< 

slavery; certainly he has no right, by virtue of na- 
tive allegiance, to force such a one away from any 
other lawful situation in which he may happen in 
providence to be placed. 

2. If the doctrine of perpetual allegiance were 
true, it would not justify entering by force, and com- 
mitting violence on board an American vessel. The 
right of search, for enemy's goods, or contraband of 
war, aboard a neutral, is tolerated, for the purpose 
of maintaining a fair trade ; but it has no connexion 
with the violent and injurious practice, of dragging 
men into bondage, when prosecuting a fair trade. 

3. As perpetual allegiance gives no right of en- 
slaving an English subject, by forcing him into a 
service which is not his choice ; much less can it jus- 
tify the impressment of an American citizen. Urge, 
as you will, the similarity of countenance, of dress, 
and of language ; and the difficulty of distinguish- 
ing man from man : these remarks go only to show 
the propriety of omitting as inexpedient, the practice 
which is so liable to abuse, even if it were lawful; 
but, on no principle of sound reasoning, can it afford 
any right whatever, to seize by force the person of a 
free man. It was reserved for the boasted wisdom 
of British partizans, to discover the argument, that 
an American deserved the punishment of impress- 
ment, into the naval service of the haughty empire, 
(whose cruel yoke had formerly been thrown off,) for 
no other crime than his resemblance to an English- 
man. Does this denote servitude? 



THE PRESENT WAR. 165 

4. The pretext of perpetual allegiance, can have 
no effect, in giving the semblance of equity to the 
practice, in the extent to which it has been carried 
by the officers of the British crown. They have 
claimed the right of removing from the vessels, 
aboard of which they entered by formal contract, 
men of all nations, who could not possibly be mis- 
taken for natives of the British Isles. The Swede, 
the Dane, the Dutchman, the Spaniard, and the sable 
sons of Africa, have been ordered, under the lash, 
to quit the place of their choice, and enter aboard a 
man of war. Such are the outrageous acts which 
the plea of perpetual allegiance has been invented to 
cover. It has been repeated, and repeated, and re- 
peated, until weak men, in despite of its absurdity, 
have been tempted to believe its truth. 

Having shown its inapplicability, I go on to prove 
its erroneousness. 

The question to which I particularly request your 
attention, is, 

The Right of Expatriation. 

The defence of property is one cause of this war. 
The defence of persons, is another. Both are legi- 
timate causes. The seizure of men by the naval of- 
ficers of England, took place under the plea of alle- 
giance, which I have shown to be inapplicable. I 
undertake, besides, to prove that it is unjust. In 
taking this ground, I am not ignorant of the oppo- 



I6t> THE CAUSES OF 






sit ion made to the right of expatriation. I am pre 
pared to meet it in all its force. The question has 
been discussed in Europe and America. The sailor 
and the soldier, the advocate and the judge, the law- 
giver and the philosopher, the husbandman and the 
merchant, the mechanic and the courtier, the divine 
and the statesman, have taken an interest in the dis- 
cussion. The decision affects all classes of men, and 
all the nations of the earth. It behoves especially, 
the christian moralist, to know upon which side the 
truth is found, in order to be able to acquit himself 
with a good conscience, wheresoever it may be his 
lot to reside. If allegiance to human governments 
be indeed unalienable, he who leaves his native 
country, never can enjoy the rights of a citizen in 
any other land ; and, although the men of the world 
may sport with perjury, the christian, desirous to act 
as an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile, 
can never, by his profession or his oath, undertake 
to transfer an allegiance which is in its nature unal- 
terable. Pitiable, indeed, is his case ; bound by an 
iron law to the spot which gave him birth, or pre- 
vented, if he should venture to leave his first resi- 
dence, from enjoying to the end of his life the pri- 
vilege of a freeman in any other society upon earth. 
In vindicating the right of expatriation, I feel con- 
vinced I am on the side of humanity and godliness. 

All men are born equally free — There is no ob- 
ligation by contract to prevent entirely a change of 
country — allegiance and protection are reciprocal — 
all nations recognize the principle of expatriation— 



THE PRESENT WAR. 167 

the contrary doctrine leads to absurdity — and the 
word of the living God secures this right to man. 

These are my arguments in defence of my asser- 
tion. I proceed to illustrate and apply them, 

1. All Men are born equally Free. 

The religion, which is from God, lays the loftiness 
of man, the pride of royalty, and the claims of no- 
ble blood, in the dust. It assures us that God hath 
made of one blood all the nations of men for to dwell 
•upon all the face of the earth* — that all are by nature 
in a like sinful and dependent state. There is 
nothing in the bone, or the blood, or the head, or 
the heart of a king's son, to distinguish him from the 
infant peasant. There is no provision in nature or 
religion, for binding one man against his will to the 
service of another. Nativity, therefore, of itself, 
produces neither sovereignty nor allegiance : and it 
is of course but a violence against the laws of 
nature and of revelation to urge, on account of birth, 
a perpetual allegiance to any dynasty whatever. 
The relation of rulers and ruled exists onlv bv con- 
tract. Society results from the constitution of hu- 
man nature. It is the will of God that order should 
obtain among his rational creatures : but every man 
is free to select his own society, and make choice of 
the power to which he will submit for his protection. 

* Acts xvii. 26. 



1(58 THE CAUSES OF 

2. There is no obligation from the social compact 
upon man to continue in allegiance to the government 
under which he was born. 

That an individual may bind himself, by ex- 
press stipulation, to certain services, in a given place, 
either for a specified term of years, or for life, 
is not denied : but such stipulation is not implied 
in the social compact. A nation, it is true, as well 
as any other body politic, may give pledges, and 
contract debts; and every member of the body 
is bound to redeem the pledge, and discharge the 
obligation, in its true spirit and design: but no 
man is bound to continue a member, longer than the 
nature of the connexion itself requires. There is 
not in the constitution of the body politic any such 
regulation as requires every man to abide in the 
country which gave him birth. It is not necessary 
to civil society, that such a principle should be re- 
cognized : it is not proper that it should : and even if 
the government should succeed in introducing it ex- 
pressly unto the constitution, the stipulation, as it 
would be immoral, could not be obligatory. See- 
ing no man is morally bound to the spot in which 
he was born, and cannot lawfully be circumscribed 
by the limits of a prison, however extended, unless 
by transgression he has forfeited his liberty, it is 
perfectly preposterous to allege that a government, 
formed for a local jurisdiction, should claim, without 
his consent, the right of sovereignty over him, after 
having passed beyond the limits of its authority. 



THE PRESENT WAR. 169 

3. Allegiance and protection are reciprocal ; and 
protection is the foundation upon which the claim of 
allegiance rests. When the foundation is removed, 
the edifice falls of course. 

I readily admit, that there is something in the 
idea of native country, which is intimately connected 
with the doctrine of allegiance. It is not, however, 
the spot of earth, upon which the child is born, that 
connects him with the national society ; but the rela- 
tion of the child's parents to that society. 

In the ordinary concerns of life there is no need 
of such minute distinctions; and there is too little 
discrimination, exercised by the greater part of men, 
to be able to understand it. Even statesmen are 
not always wise : and designing men find it their in- 
terest to keep up a confusion of ideas upon im- 
portant subjects. In the present discussion, never- 
theless, it is necessary, that I distinctly state to you 
the true bond, which connects the child with the body 
politic. It is not the inanimate matter of a piece of 
land, but the moral relations of his parentage. Let 
a child be born within the walls of a church, this 
does not make him a church member ; but if the pa- 
rent or parents be in connexion with the church, so 
is the offspring. Visible society, as it is provided 
for in the constitution of human nature, naturally 
seeks to perpetuate its own existence, by conferring 
upon children the membership of their parents. 
Each citizen too is supposed to reserve for his off- 
spring the benefits of society. The Governor of the 

22 



170 THE CAUSES Of 

universe approves of this provision. Thus it is, thai 
the country of the father is that of the child, and not 
because he happened to be born in its territory. 
Residence produces an attachment. Education che- 
rishes affection for the scenes of early life; but only 
moral relations lay the foundation for moral obliga- 
tion. It is the enjoyment of the privileges of society 5 
that lays the foundation for obedience to its autho- 
rity. It follows from this, that protection being the 
end of civil government, the sovereign has no other 
claim upon the allegiance of the subject, than what 
arises from the protection which he affords. As is 
the protection which I ask and receive, so is the fealty 
which I owe. If I ask none, I am under no allegi- 
ance : If I receive none, I have nothing to return. 
It is the very essence of despotism to claim au- 
thority over me without an equivalent.* 

4. All Nations recognize the Bight of Expatriation. 

It has been very common, among the several na- 
tions of the earth, to banish from their territories 

# " By the law of nature aloae, children follow the condition of 
their fathers, and enter into all their rights. The place of birth 
produces no change in this particular — for it is not naturally the 
place of birth that gives rights, but extraction. Children born at 
sea — out of the country — in the armies of the state, — in the house of 
its ministers at a foreign court, are reputed native citizens. Every 
man, born free, may examine whether it be covenieut for him to 
join in the society for which he was destined by his birth. If 
he finds that it will be of no advantage to him to remain in it, he 
is at liberty to leave it." 

Vattel, Sec. 216—220. 



THE PRESENT WAR. 171 

into other countries, some of their citizens — Writers 
on public law, admit the right of emigration — Fo- 
reigners are naturalized by the several civilized 
states ; and each of these facts implies the principle 
of expatriation. 

The. history of distinguished men, in the first ranks 
of life, who have been exiled from the Grecian states, 
from the Roman republic, from France, Germany, 
and from the British dominions, would fill volumes 
of instructive comment on this theme of discussion- 
We have very respectable exiles before us, in this 
city, who are living witnesses of the truth, that 
Great Britain, notwithstanding the claims of per- 
petual allegiance upon the part of her statesmen, 
admits the dissolution of native allegiance, and of 
course contradicts the doctrine of its perpetuity. If 
nativity simply constitutes allegiance, it must be un- 
alterable ; because native country never can change : 
a man is born but once. If voluntary contract is the 
basis of allegiance, I have gained my point ; for, in 
this case, the one party is free to relinquish a con- 
nexion in the nature of things conditional, as well 
as the other. When the connexion is dissolved, 
protection and allegiance perish together. 

I give you the law of nations on this subject, in 
the words of Vattel. " The term country, common- 
ly signifies the state of which one is a member. In a 
more confined sense, and more agreeable to its ety- 
mology, this term signifies the state, or even more 
particularly the town, or place where our parents 



172 THE CAUSES Of 

lived at the moment of our birth. In this sense it 1$ 
justly said, that our countiy cannot be changed, and 
always remains the same, to whatsoever place we re- 
move afterwards — But, as several lawful reasons may 
oblige a man to choose another country, that is, to 
become a member of another society ; so, when we 
speak in general of the duty to our country, we ought 
to understand by this term, the state of which a man 
is an actual member ; since it is to that he owes it en- 
tirely, and in preference to all others."* 

" There are cases, in which a citizen has an abso- 
lute right to renounce his country, and abandon it en- 
tirely. 1. If the citizen cannot procure subsistence 
in his own country. 2. If the body of the society^, 
or he who represents it, absolutely neglects to fulfil 
his obligations to a citizen. 3. If the sovereign would 
establish laws, to which the pact of Society cannot 
oblige a citizen to submit."f 

Of the third justifiable cause of expatriation, J\L 
de Vaitel gives three instances — When religious li- 
berty is violated ; when a form of government is al- 
tered from freedom to a more arbitrary system ; and 
when a nation has given up, by submission to ano- 
ther, its own independence. " Those who quit their 
country from a lawful reason, are called emigrants;" 
and of " the right of emigration" he says in the next 
sentence,!. " This is a natural right, which is ccr- 

• Book I. Chap. 11. t Book I. Chap. 1». 

t Beet. 225, 



THE PRESENT WAR. 173 

tainly excepted in the pact of society." It is, by the law 
of nations, a right which cannot be surrendered. 

Proceeding upon this principle, all nations have 
been in the habits of naturalizing foreigners resident 
among them.* England particularly, as if deter- 
mined to make apparent to the universe her own in- 
consistency, has furnished peculiar facilities for na- 
turalizing seafaring men of all nations. The short 
period of two years serving aboard British vessels ; 
marriage with a native in her ports ; and voluntary 
enlistment aboard her men of war, form a sufficient 
ground for claiming them as subjects. The sove- 
reign of Britain, while he denounces as a traitor, 
every native of his empire found in arms against 
him, forces to fight against his own country, the 
native of whatever nation ; and, as if determined to 
claim, what is most unreasonable and tyrannical, 
within the compass of human thought, he compels to 
the battle in the Provinces of Upper and Lower Ca- 
nada, American emigrants naturalized, even since 
the declaration of the present war. The plain lan- 
guage of English royal proclamations, illustrated by 
the practice of British officers, is, " all the states 
upon earth must allow emigrations to Britain, but 
must prohibit emigrations from Britain to them : the 
natives of our own soil, and those of other countries, 
whom we naturalize, shall be our slaves for ever ; 

* " A nation may grant to a stranger the quality of a citizen, by 
admitting him to the body of the political society. This is called 
naturalization" Vattel, Sect. 214. 



174 THE CAUSES OF 

but let no other commonwealth dare to protect a na- 
turalized foreigner."* 

* Notwithstanding this exclusive claim, of prohibiting emigra- 
tion, and encouraging naturalization, as suits her own convenience, 
Great Britain gives to her subject?, those reasons which require the 
exercise of the natural and unalienable right of expatriation. She 
violates, in every instance, the pact of society. 1. She does not 
afford to industry and enterprise, similar encouragement to that 
which is given in America. For the means of a comfortable sub- 
sistence, thousands are constrained to emigrate : others expatriate 
themselves, to improve a condition already comfortable; and a 
much greater number would follow the example, could they com- 
mand the means of transportation to the hospitable shores of Colum- 
bia. 

2. The British Government does not fulfil its obligations to the 
citizen, in governing thern by equal laws. The scale upon which 
the representation is graduated, prevents freemen from giving tbeir 
suffrages for those who make the laws : and they have of course, a 
right to remove to a country, in which society is organized upon 
more liberal principles. 

3. Religion is violated, and pious men are placed under political 
disqualification, and forced to support a system of faith and worship, 
to which they cannot as honest and good men give their assent. 
To the corrupt establishment they are compelled to give the tithes 
of all. 

A very large proportion of the population, and the most religious 
part of it too, in England and in Scotland, is among the dissenters 
from the national system of worship ; and in Ireland, there is not 
probably one out of ten who belongs to the established church. 

We have heard in this country, of the claims of Irish Catholics 
for emancipation; but the reason of rejecting their claim is not ge- 
nerally known. It is not from any dislike that the high church- 
men have to the Roman religion ; but from their hatred and fear of 
the Protestant dissenters. The watchmen of the political religion 
of England, now stand with the Sacramental Test in tbeir hand, to 
guard the passage to power. The Independents, the Baptists, the 
Methodists, the Presbyterians, the whole body of Protestant dis- 



11HE PRESENT WAR, 175 

5. The Right of Expatriation appears from the 
absurdity of the doctrine of perpetual fealty to the 
place of nativity. 

In the decision of this question, every man of 
piety has an interest. However few the men who 
reason in order that they may understand ; and exa- 
mine moral subjects in order that they may discharge 
their duty, there are still some, I trust, who would 
rather suffer on the spot which gave them birth, than 
leave it for ever, if by so doing they must violate the 
laws of morality, and sin against their God. 

Upon the principle which I am opposing, sad, sad 
indeed, would be the condition of man. The child 
is pinned down in the place of his nativity as in 
a prison, and unto its local authorities he is for ever 
in thraldom. The African and the Hindoo dare not, 
leave his country for another. The Frenchman and 
the Spaniard must never throw off allegiance to 
Louis and to Ferdinand. To the Prince Regent 
of England, the emigrant must continue in subjec- 
tion, although he, in an unhappy hour, has perjured 
himself, in disclaiming his authority, and becoming 
a naturalized citizen of this republic. And by the 
same rule of obligation to the place of birth, the 
authorities of Connecticut extend to many citizens 
of New- York; the local jurisdiction of every corpo- 

senters, are the objects of opposition. The late bishop of London, 
Randolph, avowed his enmity, and threatened to suppress them in 
his diocese. 

Is not this a reason for exercisin?..the right of expatriation ? 



17b THE CAUSES OF 

ration of a city or a village perpetually binds every 
one born within their respective limits. According 
to this morality, my hearers, you are guilty of trans- 
gression, for having left the township in which you 
drew the first breath ; and in order to avoid further 
guilt, you must return whence you came, and leave be- 
hind you the wives and the children you have gotten 
in this city ; for here, they must remain until they re- 
tire to the tomb. You must, instead of encouraging 
a free and honourable intercourse among men of all 
nations and kingdoms, in order to make them live 
as one great rational family of the same blood; 
instead of encouraging a rivalship in equity and 
honour among the nations, and a spirit of personal 
freedom and generous feeling among the natives 
of every clime and kindred — instead of this, you 
must require that man be chained to his birth-place; 
that sullenness, and non-intercourse, and jealousy, 
; haired be cherished ; and that society be 
cut up into minute sections, with feelings and with 
views graduated upon the puny scale of counties and 
of townships. Then will Aristocracy perpetuate her 
dominion, and Despotism horribly smile from her 
bloody but triumphant car. 

The absurdity of this doctrine is so obvious to 
the christian, that I am astonished to find among the 
piofessed followers of my Redeemer any of its ad- 
vocates. The man who inculcates perpetual allegi- 
ance to the place of birth, assuredly calculates 
largely upon the amount of human ignorance and 
folly ; he ventures far upon the slavish feelings of his 



rHl PRESENT WAR. 177 

partisans ; but he does little credit to bis own 
discernment or benevolence. I cannot but infer, 
that God has bestowed a scanty supply of brains 
upon the man that denies the right of expatriation; 
unless indeed by a course of uncommon depravity, 
he has himself destroyed the finer fibres of the heart. 
Far different from his, is the morality of the chris- 
tian religion. 

6. With the scriptural argument, 1 close my de- 
fence of a man's right to choose his country. 

The scriptures inform us that God gave the earth 
to the children of men. It was his will and com- 
mand, that it should be peopled from one pair. 
God said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and re- 
plenish the earth.* But this order could not be exe- 
cuted, unless the children should emigrate from the 
place of their nativity, settle in other countries, and 
form new societies. There is, moreover, no provi- 
sion made in the scriptures, for keeping the colonies 
in perpetual subjection to the parent state. This 
would make the whole world subject to one unwiel- 
dy despotism. Upon the contrary, we are assured, 
that when religion prevails over all the earth, there 
shall still be distinct nations, which Satan shall deceive 
no more ;\ there shall still be distinct kingdoms — 
even the kingdoms of this world, that shall become 
the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ. In confor- 
mity to this principle, the Governor of the universe. 

Gen. i. 28. f Rev. x*. 3, 

23 



178 THE CAUSES OF 

at ail earl\ age, when men formed the plan of ad- 
hering together in one great and corrupt society,, 
performed a miracle to prevent the evil; and, so the 
.Lord scattered them abroad from thence, upon the 
face of all the earth.* Instead of permitting the so- 
vereign of every country, to deceive the subject 
with claims of perpetual allegiance, God command- 
ed Abram to expatriate himself. The father of the 
faithful obeyed, and left his native country. In 
vain would the kings of the Canaanites claim, as 
bound to serve them, the descendants of Abram, 
born in their territories. Jacob removed with his 
family to Egypt ; and even there, notwithstanding 
the power of the monarchy, they claimed the right 
of being considered as a distinct people, and of emi- 
grating at their pleasure from the land of bondage. 
The proclamations of the Prince of Britain would 
have passed for morality at the court of Pharaoh, 
but Moses, without fearing the wrath of the king, 
said unto him, Let my people go.f The tyrant ulti- 
mately suffered the punishment of his crimes, when 
he attempted to reclaim as native subjects, the Is- 
raelitish emigrants. Pharaoh, and his host, his cho- 
sen captains also, were drowned in the Red Sea. 

Moses did not offend the laws of morality, al- 
though in despite of native allegiance, he invited Ho- 
hab to expatriate himself from Midian, and accept 
of naturalization in the commonwealth of Israel. 
Come thou with us, and we will do thee good — Leave us 

v Gen. xi. 8. fExod. v. l,&c. 



THE PRESENT WAR. 170 

not, I pray thee — and it shall be, if thou go with us, 
that what goodness the Lord shall do unto us, the same 
will we do unto thee.* 

I will not pursue this discussion further. I trust 1 
have already sufficiently vindicated the principle 
upon which, I myself, in common with many of m\ 
hearers, and of my fellow-citizens in New- York, 
have acted. The principle upon which, the minis- 
ters of religion must, in many instances act, in con- 
formity to the command of the Prince of the kings 
of the earth, Go ye into all nations — preach the 
gospel to every creature ; and lo, I am with you, even 
unto the end of the world — the principle of expa- 
triation. 

There are, I feel and acknowledge, many tender 
ties to bind us to our native country. We cherish, 
in fond recollection, the scenes and the partners of 
our youthful days. We revere the land of our fa- 
thers, and the place of their sepulchres. We look 
back on the friends that we have left behind : we de- 
sire their welfare : we cultivate their correspon- 
dence ; and we are not ashamed to call them bre- 
thren. If we have left the national society, and have 
thrown off allegiance to their rulers, we count it no 
dishonour to have been born in a territory, where 
arts, and science, and literature, and heroism, and 
patriotism abound. Even now, I can gladly trans- 
port myself on fancy's wings to my native hills. I 

* Numb. x. 29—32. 



ISO the causes of 

would still listen to the music of the lark, to the? 
bleating of the flocks, and to the reaper's song; and 
I Avould close the day, in the bosom of a peaceful 
family, with a solemn hymn of thanksgiving to the 
Lord. I would still gaze on the lofty rock, where 
the eagle builds her nest ; admire at a distance, the 
cloud-capt cliffs of Benmorc, and count the foaming 
billows of the Atlantic, rolling among the basaltic 
pillars of Staffa, along the classic shores of lona,* 
to the bold promontories at the mouth of Lochlevan. 
I bless my native country, and take pride in all the 
excellency of her sons. Others too, feel towards 
their native place, as I do. But yet, my brethren, 
on a question of morality, truth must decide. Con- 
science, and not fancy, must make the application 
of God's law. 

I have frequently felt surprise, at the influence of 
national feelings over the moral principles of men of 
talents and of virtue. Some men of that description, 
men too, of quick sensibility, of high and honoura- 
ble feelings, have been seen listening to discussions, 
which, in denying the right of transferring allegiance, 
charged themselves with perjury. For, if fealty be 
unalterable, the oath of naturalization is a falsehood. 
There is one remarkable part of the character of 
the sons of Britain, which is worthy of imitation by 
the children of Columbia. It is their attachment to 
country. It is often extravagant in the former, and 
it is misplaced when directed to the society which 

* JcolmMU, 



THE PRESENT WAJt. I 8] 

they have left, more than to that of which they have 
become members ; and especially, when it embraces 
the guilty crown of the kingdom : but it is in itself 
an honourable principle : alas ! it is too feeble, in 
the hearts of those American citizens, who admire 
the moral order and political machinery of Great 
Britain, more than they seek to preserve the integ- 
rity of their own republican institutions. 

I have not made these remarks on misplaced attach- 
ment to country, with a view to apply them to those 
emigrants from the dominions of the British king, who 
belong to this congregation. No. To you, my brethren, 
they are not applicable. In common with those chris- 
tians in your native country, and in this, the country 
of your choice, who are bound with you in the same 
faith, and in the same covenant, you embrace, as a part 
of your christian doctrine, the principle of expatria- 
tion. You disclaim, by the solemnities of religion, 
allegiance to the corrupt, political, and ecclesiastical 
system of British misrule. That mas your country. 
It is so no more. To our brethren ; yea, to every 
man in that empire, we wish health and happiness, 
and eternal life. But this country, although we see 
and lament the evils which appertain to its inhabit- 
ants and to its government, this country, is now be- 
come our own. Here we have voluntarily settled. 
Here we have married our wives. Here we have 
our homes. Here we have our children placed as 
olive-plants around our table ; and here we expect to 
leave our flesh to rest in hope, when the last breath 
shall depart from our nostrils, and the spirit shall re- 



182 THE CAUSES OF 

turn to God. To this country, during the present 
struggle to maintain the rights of expatriation, to 
preserve the rights of the stranger, who expects not 
in vain to find hospitality — To this country, we wish 
success in the present contest. We pray for a hap- 
py termination of the strife, and for a speedy resto- 
ration of the blessings of peace, that in the peace 
thereof we may have peace. 

Having thus vindicated the most doubtful part of 
the cause of America in the present war, and given 
evidence of its justness, I go on, 

II. To show the Principles upon which the War 
may be lawfully prosecuted. 

Besides the question of right to make war upon 
an offending nation, there are many considerations 
to be taken into the account of its moral character. 
Governments, as well as individuals, have not unfre- 
quently displayed pride, indiscretion, and malevo- 
lence, in contending for their unquestionable rights ; 
and have thereby given a character of inexpediency 
and criminality to a contest which might have been 
conducted by better men upon moral principles. 
Nor is the fact to be concealed, that the virtuous 
part of a community are justified in the sight of God 
and their country, in keeping aloof from a contest, 
however <>ood the cause, if moral evil be made es- 
sential to the mode of carrying it on. We must not 
do evil that good may come of it. If the terms, 
upon which admission into the army, like the British 



THE PRESENT WAR. J 83 

sacramental test* be absolutely sinful, it becomes 
a duty, even when the cause of war is just, to reject 
the terms, and of course to withhold a support which 
cannot otherwise be afforded. 

It is evidently, therefore, both the duty and 
the interest of those who are placed at the head of a 
nation, to take order, that the wars, which, by the in- 
justice of others, they are compelled to wage, be 
prosecuted upon equitable principles. If it should 
be the lot of a conscientious man to live in a belli^e- 
rent state, which wages a war, just in its causes, but 
iniquitous in the mode by which it is conducted, he 
has only, when the evil is beyond his remedy, to 
withhold his personal agency, and to pray that the 
cause may, notwithstanding the sins of men, be pros- 
pered by the Lord. No iniquity of the instrument 
can justify the dereliction of a good cause. Those, 
of course, cannot be esteemed as virtuous members 
of any community, who, under the plea of improvi- 
dence, of weakness or mismanagement, upon the part 
of rulers, not only strive to prevent the success of a 
lawful war, but also with design to increase the na- 
tional embarrassment, deny the justness of the con- 
test. With this distinction, obvious to every man, 1 
shield from the charge of insincerity those conscien- 
tious men who may disapprove of the present ad- 
ministration, and the conduct of the war, while I 
make no apology for him, who, devoid of patriotism 
and virtue, calls in question the legitimacy of the 

* See page 71. 









184 THE CAUSES 0* 

contest as it now exists, and recommends submission 
to the enemy — I make no apology for him, who 
strives to prevent the success of his country in the 
present strife. I leave him to the comforts of his 
own reflections, knowing, as 1 do, that whatever may 
be his motives, they cannot command the approba- 
tion of his country, of his cotemporaries in other 
lands, of posterity, of his conscience, or of his God. 
With him, therefore, I do not stoop to argue the 
question. To others I say, let us examine, upon 
moral principles, the mode of prosecuting the pre- 
sent war. 

I am not the eulogist of men in power; neither 
do I give flattering titles to man: I love the country 
of my choice, and I pray to God for the prosperity 
and success of its arms. I lament whatever of inde- 
cision, and imbecility, and improvidence, and mis- 
management has appeared in the halls of legislation, 
in the executive councils, in the leaders of our ar- 
mies. I could fervently wish, and devoutly pray, 
for more firmness, and wisdom, and action, and for 
more extensive resources in men and in money 
for the safety of the nation. But I would not dis- 
pute, and embarrass, and threaten, for the purpose 
of producing an effect, for which I should afterwards 
blame those who were irresolute enough to listen to 
my opposition. I would not strive to bring about 
an evil for the sake of condemning it, and injuring 
the country. I would not tempt to sin, for the sake 
of triumphing over the fallen. 






THE PRESENT WAR. 1 8/J 

1 submit lo your consideration the three follow- 
ing principles ; belligerent communities are eihvai/s 
to be considered, each as one body — in war, the not 
Hon, as such, is the proper object of attack — the 
change, which humanity has already introduced into 
the modes of warfare, should not be diminished, but 
extended. 

I shall now explain these principles, and apply 
them to the mode in which this war is conducted. 

1. In a state of War, we must consider each Conn 
munity as one Body. 

However extensive an empire, however nume- 
rous its colonies and dependencies, organized into 
one society, and subject to the same sovereign power, 
when that sovereign has undertaken war, the whole 
empire is called upon to bear a part in its prosecu- 
tion, and the other party in the contest, has a right 
to consider it as one body. In a just war, the 
place of attack is a question of expediency : and the 
most vulnerable point presents itself as the most eli- 
gible.* The skill of the General in battle is dis- 
played, in arranging his forces, and in selecting the 
point of attack, so as with the least exertion and 
danger to do the greatest possible injury to the hos- 
tile battalions. If he besieges a city, he will select 
the most vulnerable spot, and there strike the blow. 
It is worse than trifling to allege, that this is pnsilla- 

' See pages 126, and 132'. 
24 



itt6 THE PRINCIPLES UPON WHICH 

nimous or immoral. The sole object of a just war i* 
to make the enemy feel the evils of his own injus- 
tice, and by his sufferings dispose him to amend his 
ways. He must therefore be attacked upon the most 
accessible quarter. 

1 have already established the justness of the pre- 
sent war. Taking that for granted, 1 now inquire 
into the best manner of giving it effect. The cir- 
cumstances of the case leave no manner of doubt 
upon this subject. Great Britain, separated from us 
by the wide Atlantic, exposes no point, upon which 
the United States can reach her, except her colonies 
and her shipping. The Canadas and her commerce 
present the proper objects of attack. On both these 
points she feels ; and you may judge of her feelings 
from the fact, that those who feel with her, and for 
her, among ourselves, feel most upon these very sub- 
jects. Her fleets and her armies, those instruments 
of annoyance to others, are of no use but the pro- 
tection of her colonies and commerce. By attack- 
ing and conquering them, the citizens of America 
may acquire, and have acquired, renown ; but it is by 
capturing that which they protect, and for which 
alone they are supported, that the enemy can be 
brought to feel, to reason, and do justice. 

Upper Canada, particularly, presented to the 
United States the most eligible theatre for the con- 
test. It was the most accessible part of the enemy's 
territory, — the possession of it would prove the de- 
fense of an extended frontier from the ravages of the 



THE WAR IS CONDUCTED. 18T 

toe, and from Indian barbarity — and it might be held 
as an equivalent until, for the sake of its restoration, 
the enemy would be constrained to do justice. 
These considerations put the policy of attacking it 
beyond a doubt. And the equity of it necessarily 
follows from the justness of the war itself. Do you 
doubt this ? Show me wherefore, and I will answer 
you. Set your arguments in array, and my reply is 
at hand. "The inhabitants of Canada have com- 
mitted no offence." Is this your argument? Who 
then has offended? The Soldier, the Sailor? No. 
The Minister, the Regent? Will you then despatch 
a messenger of private vengeance to assassinate the 
offending sovereign, rather than attack his dominions, 
and his colonies, and his troops, and his ships of 
war ? But you are mistaken. The Canadians have 
offended. They have made a common cause with 
their sovereign. In him who represents them they 
have offended. Let them peacefully distinguish them- 
selves from him, and remain as non-combatants in the 
possession and use of their property — and these in- 
nocents shall then be unmolested. It is not against 
the unoffending Canadians, it is against the king's 
troops, and the king's fleet, and against the king's 
territories, that the United States wage this war on 
the waters and the shores of Erie, Champlain, and 
Ontario. And you, too, I suspect, from the nature 
of your remark, do not so much dispute the legiti- 
| macy of this part of the war, as you dislike the whole 
cause. Sympathy with the Canadians has frequently 
been affected as a benevolent method of aiming 



Wti THE PIUl\TltLES CI'ON WHICH 

a side-blow at the administration of the government 
This may be considered as good policy ; but it par- 
lakes not of the candour of religion. The British 
empire, like the human body, has many members, and 
all the members being many, are one body. In a state 
of war, an attack upon any member is lawful. In a 
moral point of view, it makes no difference whether 
the blow falls upon the capitol or the colony, The 
whole nation is one body. 



'2 



The Nation only is the proper Object of War 



Humanity prescribes laws for belligerent commu- 
nities. The evils of war are necessarily great; and 
they ought not to be unnecessarily increased. Pri- 
vate persons and property, whose injury cannot af- 
fect the controversy, should remain unmolested, 
The monuments of the fine arts are respected by 
civilized nations; and none but barbarians will de- 
signedly destroy elegant edifices or libraries. Ther 
plunder of hamlets and villages, the conflagration of 
private dwellings and barns, can have no other effect 
than multiplying private misery, and producing 
higher degrees of exasperation : for the rule of hu- 
manity, in a necessary war, is to inflict no injury ex- 
cept what will affect the nation as a body politic, 
and thus subserve the proper end of warfare. 

3. Several changes favourable to humanity, on 
the mode of conducting war, have already ob- 
tained ; and such ought lo be extended. 



THE WAR IS CONDUCTED. l#9 

It is highly honourable to the government of this 
republic, that a proffer has been made to the enemy 
of an armistice, ever since the commencement of 
hostilities, upon condition that he should desist, 
by sea and by land, from the practices which called 
for an appeal to the sword ; and that a proposal 
has been made, upon terms of reciprocity, for repay- 
ing to injured individuals the losses which might by 
them be incurred during the continuance of the con- 
test. It is equally dishonourable, on the part of the 
foe, to refuse acceding to such proposals. On him 
of course descends the guilt of every injury. 

According to modern usage in christian nations, 
unauthorized individuals are not permitted with im- 
punity to fall upon an enemy. Secret means of an- 
noyance, such as poison and assassination, are dis- 
carded. The persons of those who do not carry 
arms, and even of retainers to an army, are in safe- 
ly. Prisoners are not enslaved, but treated with re- 
spect. Officers are dismissed on their parole. Pre- 
datory excursions, and pillage of every kind, are dis- 
countenanced ; and the horrors of war accordingly 
mitigated.* This reform has been effected princi- 
pally through the influence of the christian religion; 
a religion distinguished by its harmony with the 
most correct principles of national law. It ought to 
be extended in its benign influence to other prac- 
tices, still admitted by the law of nations; but highly 



* See on this subject, Paley, Marten?, Vattel, Bynkershoek, 
Pauli, anil Moser, 



c 



190 THE PRINCIPLES UPON WHICH 

injurious to morality. It ought to be extended to 
the practice of privateering, and to that which gives 
origin to privateering ; the practice of capturing pri- 
vate property of any kind upon the ocean, by public 
armed vessels, whether in peace or in war. There 
are many cogent reasons for opposing the practice 
of taking private property on the high seas. It i 
contrary to the golden rule, " do unto others as you 
would that they should do unto you." It is robbing 
men of the fruits of their industry ; for it allows 
them no equivalent for their property. It cherishes 
avarice, already sufficiently stimulated by commer- 
cial cupidity. It entirely destroys much property, 
without advantage to any one. It endangers and 
sacrifices many valuable lives. It retards the pro- 
gress of civilization. It increases the burden and 
expenditure of nations, by giving occasion for fleets 
of armed vessels, for defence and pillage. It is in 
the present condition of the world, the principal 
source of dispute and strife, of national quarrels, and 
of public wars. Therefore is it devoutly to be 
wished, that pious men, in every country, should, 
with one consent, set their faces against so great an 
evil ; and support, with every exertion in their pow r - 
er, those able civilians among the nations, who are 
endeavouring, on this very head, to meliorate the 
code of public law.* The only ground upon which 



* There is some reason to hope, that (he lime is approaching] 
when the principle for which I contend, will be in fact admitted as 
apart of the law of nations: not simply as it respects privnlccrs j 
but also as it respects ptiblic armed vessels. 



THE WAR IS CONDUCTED. 191 

I justify this country in pursuing this practice, is that 
of visiting upon the enemy, the evil which his injus- 
tice merits. That ground is sufficient. It is the 
ground upon which rests the equity of the war 

Privateering, I acknowledge, is more obviously wrong, than cap- 
tures of merchantmen by national ships of war. It is that kind of 
the invasion of private right, which is most extensive in its inju- 
rious effects, most level to the capacities of ordinary minds, most 
calculated to excite the aversion of christian sensibility, most per- 
nicious to the general morality of the community, by multiplying 
the number of adventurers, who seek and share the plunder of un- 
offending fellow-men : but the evil, the radical evil, lies in the in- 
vasion of private right at all. 

To the total abolition of this practice, I see in the state of the 
nations no formidable barrier, except what is presented by the po- 
licy of Great Britain. It is her navy that plays the criminal game 
in times of peace and war. It is reasonable, however, to expect, 
that during the present repose of the nations, they will ask one an- 
other the question, How long shall England be permitted to enjoy 
the exclusive commerce and dominion of the ocean ? Shall it be 
for ever ? It is reasonable to expect they will devise means, in con- 
cert, for asserting the freedom of the seas. 

I know that this is necessary to public justice. I know it is ne- 
cessary to a permanent peace in the world. I know it is pro 
mised in the word of God. I know it will be brought to pass. In 
despite of the example, and the influence of Great Britain, I find 
throughout Europe and America, an increasing dislike to the 
practice of private plunder on the ocean. 

Christian sensibility, in this city, and throughout the country, 
is averse from privateering. Some American civilians, and 
among others, Mr. Chancellor Kent of this state, (a man who, 
while Chief Justice, ably vindicated the christian character of the 
commonwealth, in affirming the decision that blasphemy against 
the Saviour is a crime,) have protested against privateering. It 
would be doing injustice to their intellect and their patriotism, to 
tay, that while condemning it here, they justify it on the part of 



192 THE PRINCIPLES UPON WHICH 

itself. War under the best form is an evil — a neces- 
sary evil. Non enim est ulla defensio contra vim un- 
quam oblanda, sed nonnunquam est necessarian 

the enemy; thai, while condemning the practice of privateering 
they approve of the principle of plunder by public armed vessels ; 
that, while condemning the invasion of private right, as a weapon 
of war, they allow the morality of it in times of peace. 1 rather 
class them with those writers on public law, who, while they ad- 
mit that it is among the usages of nations, desire to have the code 
of national law altered and amended. I rather class them with 
those distinguished civilians of France, who adorned the reign of 
the Emperor Napoleon, by raising up that imperishable monument 
of legal talent, the Civil Code, still the law of the nation whose 
throne he has abdicated. I had rather class them with the framers 
of the Treaty of Tilsit, that remarkable instrument, which, as we 
learn from the note of the Duke of Bassano, Paris, April 25, 1812, 
to the Chancellor of Russia, asserts the same principle. In that 
note are the following very liberal and correct assertions. " His 
Majesty the Emperor of Russia, has acknowledged at Tilsit, the 
principle — that the nations, in the full enjoyment of their rights, might 
give themselves up freely to the exercise of their industry— that the in- 
dependence of their flag should be inviolable, and Us protection a reci- 
procal duty of the one towards the other." 

Azuni, on Maritime Law, adduces facts to show, that the na- 
tions in general, are approaching a state, in which the convention- 
al code of public law will provide, That " in future no merchant- 
vessel shall be stopped or seized, tmlcss laden with articles really con- 
traband:" and Martens gives to our own country, the credit of 
being first in this work of reform. " In the Treaty of Commerce 
between the king of Prussia and the United States of America, 
1785, Art. 23, the first example has been given of a convention, 
in virtue of which, all merchant and trading vessels employed in the 
exchange of the productions of different places, shall pass freely, and 
without molestation."' 

Cicero. 






THE PRESENT WAR. 193 



CONCLUSION. 

I now bring this discourse to a close, with a sum- 
mary of my reasons, for urging upon all classes, a 
cordial support of the defensive measures, which 
may be morally and constitutionally employed, by 
those, who, in divine providence, have the manage- 
ment of the war committed into their hands. If 
any means proposed, should appear to be unconstitu- 
tional, let those, who are friendly to the instrument 
which binds these states together in one great repub- 
lican confederation, expose their inconsistency by 
liberal arguments ; but let them still support their 
country in the contest. If any of these measures 
should be immoral, let Christians avoid touching, last- 
ing, or handling the unclean thing ; but let them still 
love their country ; and in every thing consistent with 
a good conscience sanctified by the Lord, promote 
the cause in which the nation is embarked against a 
powerful and unjust enemy. 

If negotiation should fail to secure a speedy 
peace, the dangers of the country call for unanimity 
in the strife of blood and battle. In that case, sup- 
; porting the war will be the means of preserving the 
union of the states: and this is unquestionably de- 
sirable. Whatever mistaken individuals may say 
of the collision of interests, and the rivalry existing 
between the north and the south, the east and the 
west ; every state, every part of this extensive em- 

25 



194 CONCLUSION. 

piie, has a deep interest in perpetuating the federal 
connexion. It is the means of preventing those col- 
lisions and jealousies from coming to an open rup- 
ture — it is the means of internal peace and friend- 
ship — it is the means of promoting their commerce, 
their manufactures, and their agriculture — it is the 
means of cultivating, by suitable encouragement, the 
sciences and the liberal arts — it is the means of pre- 
serving unimpaired the liberties of the people, and 
guaranteeing the forms of their democratic policy — 
it is the means of defence against foreign enemies, 
waiting to divide, and anxious to destroy — it is the 
means of securing religious liberty, together with 
the purity, the peace, and the growth of our 
churches. The several religious denominations, al- 
ready weakened by dissention, would become still 
more weak, if the parts of each ecclesiastical body 
situated in the different states, were cut asunder by 
political distinctions, which must turn brother against 
brother. Such a state of things would prevent all 
liberal intercourse among Christians, scattered over 
this land from north to south ; and if, by renewing 
in America the local favouritism and the political 
priestcraft of the old world, some particular clergy- 
men might rise to a higher eminence, true religion 
would suffer by the change; and the more ingenu- 
ous and humble men, would become more limited in 
their influence and usefulness. 

I would urge the support of the war, because 1 
earnestly long for a permanent peace. You know 
the enemy. His claims will rise, by his successes ; 



CONCLUSION. 19.5 

and fall, in proportion to his defeats. The more he 
suffers, the more will he be disposed to relinquish 
the contest. The greater his danger, the sooner will 
he come to an accommodation. By consistency and 
unanimity, America might have finished this war as 
soon as it had commenced. It is only by affecting 
the fears of the foe, that he can be made to listen to 
the voice of equity. 

I would recommend the support of this war, be- 
cause it is just. The United States ask for nothing, 
but what they ought to have; what it is lawful for 
the enemy to give ; what is in its very nature 
moral — the protection of property, and personal 
liberty. I pray for success to these righteous claims : 
I pray for courage to the warrior, and for success to 
the armaments by which the plea is urged, because 
the cause is just — because it is necessary to the re- 
pose of the world — because God has promised that 
this cause shall universally prevail. 

In offering these prayers, 1 know that they are in 
unison with the prayers of my brethren, even in the 
country with which this nation is at war — with the 
prayers of all Christians, who say, from the heart, 
"thy kingdom come." I speak not of forms, dictated 
by courts, and used by the priests, whom the kings 
of the earth keep in pay to overawe their subjects. 
I speak of prayers, dictated by the Spirit of our Lord 
Jesus Christ. To such prayers, my petitions, for the 
ultimate success of the American claims, are in unison. 
Should you travel among the nations, and take the 



196 CONCLUSION. 

suffrages of the saints every where on earth, you 
would not find one single-hearted Clnistian, who 
would refuse his assent to these principles — the 
sea should be free to all honest enterprise — personal 
liberty should be secured — and every man should be 
permitted to pursue his lawful industry, wheresoever he 
chooses to take up his abode. These are the princi- 
ples for which this nation contends by the sword; 
and therefore do I pray to the Almighty God, for 
their lull success.— Amen. 



THE ENDS FOR WHICH GOD IN HIS PROVIDENCE 
PERMITS THE EXISTENCE OP THIS WAR. 



•^VW\« 



SERMON V. 

Come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the Lord 
our God. Jer. li. 10. 

1 HEY, whose lot it is to live in the midst of revo- 
lutions and wars, are constrained to be the witnesses 
of much misen and sorrow. Where ignorance and 
tyranny prevail, the humane have only to mourn in 
silence over their calamities, without even the small 
consolation of proclaiming to the world, the evils 
which they see or endure. Wheresoever, however, 
liberty secures the right of expressing one's thoughts, 
and especially where true religion begets a becom- 
ing magnanimity, men will always be found to re- 
late the tale of wo, and to declare their opinions of 
the causes and consequences of present sufferings. It 
is, moreover, to be expected, that in such cases, 
some diversity of sentiment will obtain among the 
most unbiassed and virtuous. The complexness of 



198 god's providence in 

public affairs — the imperfection of knowledge — the 
peevishness and the passions of the heart, give us rea- 
son to believe, had we not the lights of history to 
assure us of the fact, that, without any uncommon 
degrees of depravity, men will dispute about the 
several interesting concerns of social life. 

The sad experience of the churches, and particu- 
larly of the Reformed, proclaims the danger to their 
sons, which arises from the tumults and the changes 
of political empire. During the concussion of na- 
tions, many professors of religion lose their reason 
and their faith : and it requires living principle in 
connexion with the rock of ages, to prevent being 
tossed off, and buried in the earthquake. Therefore 
do we invite christians, during the present struggle 
of the nations, to come and declare in Zion the work 
of the Lord our God. 

The invitation was originally given by the pro- 
phet Jeremiah, in view of judgments destined to 
overthrow the Chaldean government. It was to the 
wars of the Medes and Persians, he gave the name 
of the work of the Lord, which deserves to be declar- 
ed in Zion, the church of Jesus Christ. The narra- 
tive of this case, affords an instructive lesson. It is 
found in chap. 50, & 51. Jeremiah, who makes the 
declaration, deserves to be held up to view as a mo- 
del for christian ambassadors, in midst of scenes of 
war. He was descended from the house of Aaron, 
and of course a priest, as well as a prophet. By 
early piety, a remarkable discernment of the sign? 



THE PRESENT WAR. l<Jtf 

of the times, an affecting tenderness, and by an un- 
yielding firmness and integrity, he was qualified for 
the duties of an arduous ministry ; and, although he 
longed for a release from his labours, and his very 
body, insomuch as to curse the day of his birth, he 
was continued, for the instruction of the church, to 
old age upon earth. His faithfulness provoked the 
resentment of the great ; and among those whom he 
laboured to instruct and to save, as he would not flat- 
ter, he had few, if any friends. They forced him re- 
luctantly to minister to them in Egypt after the fall 
of Jerusalem: and, even there, instead of consulting; 
their prejudices, he freely proclaimed unwelcome 
truths. Persecuted by men, his only consolation was 
from heaven : and his happiness on earth consisted in 
doing his duty. We do not know which to admire 
most, his magnanimity, or disinterestedness: for 
when Nebuzaraddan, the Commander in Chief of the 
Chaldean armament, offered him an establishment in 
Babylon, he preferred continuing with his afflicted 
brethren, who had never treated him with the kind- 
ness or esteem due to his worth. 

This weeping prophet sympathized in the suffer- 
ings of a people, injured and invaded by the foe. 
Many of them were already in captivity. He be- 
held the noble edifices of the capital smoking in 
ruins. He dropped a tear over the fallen glory ; 
and turning his eyes to the east, over the mighty wa- 
ters of Euphrates, to Babylon, the enemy of his 
country, now in the full tide of successful war, lie 



200 god's providence in 

exclaimed, O thou that dwellest upon many waters, 
abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the mea- 
sure of thy covetous ness* Jeremiah committed to 
writing the predicted judgments, and sent them by 
the hands of Seraiah to Babylon, with orders, that 
when he read them to the captive Israelites, they 
should be fastened to a stone, and thrown into the 
Euphrates, as a symbol of the demolition of Chal- 
dean greatness. While predicting these judgments 
of war from the Lord, destined to overthrow that 
mighty empire, he invited the saints, in the words of 
my text, " Come, let us declare in Zion the work of 
the Lord our God." 

War is, in a certain sense, the work of the Lord — 
As such it ought to be understood and declared by a re- 
ligious people. 

Both these assertions I shall endeavour to confirm 
and apply, and shall then conclude this subject. 

I. All wars are, in a certain sense, the work of the 
Lord our God. 

It is not, in its own nature, pleasing to the Deity, 
to contemplate either the evil passions or the suffer- 
ings of men. God is not to be viewed in the light of 
an arbitrary and capricious tyrant, that sports with 
the miseries of his creatures. He is of purer eyes 

* Jer. li. 13. 



THE PRESENT WAR. 20.1 

ihan to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity* Ne- 
vertheless, be not only admits, but, in some instan- 
ces, requires war : and on account of its effects, be 
brings it to pass, as under existing circumstances, suit- 
ed to the nature of his government over such crea- 
tures as the sinful children of men. Shall not the Judge 
of all the earth do right ?f Shall there be evil in a 
city, and the Lord hath not done it ?% 

The Providence of God extends to every event- 
war is particularly specified — and the wars of this 
age of the world, are pointed out in the prophetic 
history. 

1. The Providence of God extends to every Event 
which comes to pass. 

Provision was made, in tiie counsel of his own will, 
before any part of creation was called into existence, 
for all that the Lord doeth with his creatures in time 
or through eternity. A man of understanding pur- 
poseth beforehand what he shall do : it argues imper- 
fection of intellect or of power, or else mutation of 
disposition, to act contrary to previous resolution : 
omniscience, omnipotence, and immutability assure 
us, that God worketh all things after the counsel of his 
own willj§ and as he willed what he shall himself per- 
form, his agency extends over matter and mind 
*o every event, from the colouring of a filament 



Hah. i. 13. f Gen. xviii. 25. J Amos ill. B. 
§ Eph. i. 11. 

26 






202 god's providence m 

of hair, to the overturning of a world. The ver§ 
hairs of your head are all numbered.* 

2. War is particularly specified in several parts of 
the sacred volume, as a work of God's Providence 
over human affairs. " Wherefore it is said in the 
hook of the wars of the Lord what he did in the Red 
Sea, and in the brooks of Arnon : and at the stream 
of the brook that goeth down to the dwelling of Ar, 
and lieth on the border of Moab."f 

I shall illustrate this doctrine by a passage from 
sacred history, which is very applicable to the seve- 
ral inquiries, which piety would suggest upon hear- 
ing that Avar is the work of the Lord our God. 

Ahab king of Israel proposed to Jehoshaphai 
king of Judah, an alliance, for the purpose of waging 
war against the Syrians, of which the latter accept- 
ed; but expressed a desire to consult the prophets 
respecting the nature and ends of the contest.J 
Jehoshaphat, with all his failings, which although nu- 
merous, appear to have chiefly proceeded from the 
mildness and indecision of his character, was a oious 
man, who revered the word of the Lord. Ahab was 
of an opposite character, but made it a part of his 
policy to keep a numerous ministry depending upon 
the royal bounty ; because, by that very dependence 
he might calculate upon their influence, in the com- 
munity, to favour his plans of ambition and tyranny. 

* Luke xii. 7, f Num. xxi. 14. \ 1 Kings xxii. 1—5, 



THE PRESENT WAR. 203 

He accordingly summoned a council of prophets, 
which was attended by about four hundred. They 
knew the inclination of the king of Israel : they were 
not so well acquainted with the will of the king of 
heaven : and they did not hesitate to give, what their 
patron expected, the sanction of their religion to his 
belligerent proposals.* He was gratified ; but his 
ally, suspecting the character of Allah's prophets, 
was not satisfied : he inquired for some teacher of di- 
vine truth, worthy of more confidence. There was 
one of that description at hand. Micaiah the son of 
Imlah, was well known in Samaria for his plainness 
and integrity ; but, as might be expected, of such a 
character, that he was not in favour with the court. 
Though constrained to respect his virtues, they dis- 
liked him for his unyielding disposition. I hale him, 
said Ahab, for he does not prophesy good concerning 
me, hut evil.f 

It was the policy of the king of Israel, however, 
not to displease or disappoint a man upon whose 
co-operation he calculated in the Syrian war ; and, 
in order to gratify Jehoshaphat, Micaiah was admitted 
to the royal presence. Enrobed in state apparel, 
the two allied monarchs sat upon thrones, before the 
gate of Samaria, receiving, in the presence of the 
populace, the homage of the more courtly prophets, 
when the son of lmlah approached. He came along 
with a trusty messenger from Ahab, who had pre- 
viously solicited a favourable reply from him to the 

* See verse 6. f Verse S. 



204 god's providence in 

proposition of the kings. The prophet made no 
stipulations, save expressing a determination to do 
his duty. When he spake, he predicted the fall of 
Ahab in the battle.* 

Enraged at such boldness, the king ordered the 
prophet instantly to prison, to be fed upon bread of 
affliction, and water of affliction, until he should him- 
self return from the field of battle, whither he 
speedily directed his troops to march. And Micaiah 
said, if thou return at all in peace, the Lord hath not 
spoken at all by me.j The fact verified the predic- 
tion. War was waged ; and Ahab, in despite of his 
cowardly disguise, fell in battle. 

The words of the prophet, before the gates of Sa- 
maria, explain in what sense, war waged, by sinful 
men influenced by a spirit of delusion, may, never- 
theless, be said to be of the Lord. / saw the Lord 
sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven stand- 
ing by him, on his right hand and on his left. And 
the Lord said, who shall persuade Ahab, that he may 
go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead ? — And there came 
forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said, I 
will persuade him — / will go forth, and be a lying spi- 
rit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, go 
forth, and do so. Now therefore, behold, the Lord 
hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy 
prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning 
you.% 

* Verses 9—17, f Verse 23. i Verses 19—2^. 



THE PRESENT WAR. 20, r > 

From this account, it appears, that Ahab and his 
prophets, seduced by an evil spirit, voluntarily 
acted and sinned — that the Governor of the worid 
permitted their transgressions, and employed their 
actions to answer his righteous purposes — that the 
contest at Ramoth-gilead was predestinated, pre- 
dicted, and brought to pass, by the Lord our God. 

3. The wars, which are, in this age of the world, 
carried on in Christendom, are peculiarly pointed out 
in prophecy as the work of God. 

That part of sacred history, from which I have ta- 
ken my text, very readily suggests to every one, fa- 
miliar with the Bible, a portion of New Testament 
prediction which justifies this remark. I refer to the 
outpouring of the sixth Apocalyptical vial. It is 
the intimate connexion between these two passages 
of Scripture that induced the selection of my text. 

The prophecy of Jeremiah, respects the downfal 
of the ancient Babylon. This is " the work of the 
Lord to be declared in Zion." The event took place 
under Belshazzar, and was effected by the united ai»- 
mies of Darius the Mede and Cyrus Prince of Per- 
sia, conducted by the latter, the greatest general of 
his own time. 

Media and Persia, both lay to the east of Judea 
and of Chaldea, and on this account, a Jew, writing in 
Palestine about the affairs of Babylon, must consi- 
der the well-known destroyers of Chaldean great- 



206 god's providence in 

ness, Cyrus and his uncle Cyaxares, as the kings of 
the east. For twenty-one years, the empire of the 
world was disputed between these kings and the ru- 
lers of Babylon. It was by stratagem they at last 
succeeded. The Euphrates, which runs through that 
city, was diverted at immense labour from its chan- 
nel; and when the waters abated, the !Vledes and 
the Persians marched in and took possession.* This 
explains the words of John the Divine. The sixth 
angel poured out his vial upon the great river Eu- 
phrates ; and the water thereof was dried up> that the 
way of the kings of the east might he prepared.^ 

The sixth vial designates the period under which 
we live. I shall not here repeat what I formerly said 
in your hearing, in my Lectures on the Period 

* " After a siege of nearly two years, Cyrus at last succeeded in 
taking Babylon. Understanding that a great annual festival was to 
be kept at Babylon, he sent up a party of his men to the castle, 
leading to the great lake, with orders to break down the bank, 
and turn the whole current into the lake. Towards evening he 
opened the head of the trenches on both sides the river above the 
city. In the interim, getting all his forces together, he posted one 
part of them at the place where the river entered the city, and the 
other where it came out, with orders to enter as soon as the channel 
became fordable. By the middle of the night, both parties enter- 
ed, the one having Gobrias, and the other Gadates, two revolting 
nobles of Chaldea, for their guides. Both parties met at the pa- 
lace, surprised the guards, took possession, and slew the king. 
This account Herodotus and Xenophon both give of the taking of 
Babylon by Cyrus; and herein they exactly agree with the sacred 
scriptures.'" 

Pridcaux, Vol. I. p. 153—155. 
i Rev. xvi. 12, 



THE PRESENT WAR. 207 

•of the Vials, to prove that we are now under the 
sixth. I take that fact for granted. The fifth intro- 
duced the reformation. The seventh will introduce 
the millennium. The intervening judgments, on an- 
tichristian nations, belong to the sixth. 

We have shown, that the unclean spirits which pro- 
ceed from Satan, doing wonders, seducing the kings of 
the Roman Earth, and even of the whole world to<ro 
forth to war — three unclean spirits like frogs, out of the 
mouth of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet, 
are, the principles of infidelity, of tyranny, and of 
hypocrisy, supported by philosophists, by European 
monarchs, and by corrupt ecclesiastics, producing 
wars, and gathering the nations to their merited judg- 
ments. We have shown, that it is the design of heaven, 
while employing that terrible machinery, as a wo to 
the kingdom of the man of sin, to destroy the im- 
mense resources, which the establishments of the old 
world draw from their system of foreign coloniza- 
tion, and its dependent commerce. We have shown, 
that this, the object of the sixth vial, began to be ac- 
complished in the American revolution ; and that the 
waters of Euphrates, thus diverted from their channel 
through the midst of Babylon, will continue to flow 
more and more in another course, until the former 
channel is dry, and the corrupt establishments of Eu- 
rope become a more easy prey to " the kings of the 
east," the agents of their ruin. Of this vial the pre- 
sent war is a part : and whatever may have been the 
intention of its instigators and opponents ; whatever 



208 THE CONSEQUENCES OF 

the immediate motives of its origin and continuance, 
it is a part of the grand scheme of Providence, for 
drying up the waters of the modern or mystic Baby- 
lon; and as such, it is in a peculiar sense the work 
of the Lord our God, which it behoves us both to 
declare and to explain in Zion. But this leads to 
another part of my discourse. 

II. We shall show the several ends to he answered hy 
this war, as a work of God's good Providence. 

This theme of discussion recommends itself, in a 
particular manner, to christian attention. All that 
love the Lord Jesus Christ, will regard the doings of 
his hand. He hath exalted his throne in the heavens, 
and his kingdom ruleth over all. Whatever judgment 
we form of the views and the actions of men in pow- 
er over the several nations ; it is our incumbent duty 
to study with care the designs of heaven, so far a,^ 
they are developed in the dispensations of his Pro 
vidence. Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the 
hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden to 
the hands of her mistress ; so our eyes wait upon the 
Lord our God.* 

The war in which our country is engaged, is a 

part of THE GRAND SCHEME OF God's PROVIDENCE, 

and requires that we consider it, both as it respects 
this nation in particular, and as it respects the gene 
ral family of nations. 



Ps. exxiii. 2. 






THE PRESENT WAR. 209 

We can discover the purposes of the Deity re- 
specting us, only by means of his revealed will ; and 
he reveals himself by his wordy and his works. He 
hath so ordered it, that we are at war with a great 
and powerful empire: and, however we may account 
for the fact, by the contingencies of secondary 
causes, it is not to be denied, that it comes to pass 
according to the purpose of Him, who worketh all 
things after the counsel of his own will. He does no- 
thing in vain. The effects produced were intended 
to be produced; and by observing these, we learn 
what he hath designed to accomplish. The present 
war appears destined by the God of heaven, to an- 
swer the purposes of a judgment — a trial — and, a 
benefit. 

1. The War is a Judgment. 

The sins of individual transgressors are not 
punished to their full amount in this life. At. the 
last day, every man shall receive as his work shall 
be. But nations do not exist as bodies politic in the 
world of spirits. Divine Justice lays hold of them 
accordingly in the present world, and metes out to 
them their merited punishment. The transgressions of 
this empire are confessedly numerous; and in no 
country upon earth do the sins of different individu- 
als require more, to be taken into the account of the 
national guilt, than those of the people of the United 
States; because in no other country, are the people 
and the government so completely identified in the 
constitution and administration of civil power. The 

27 



21 THE DESIGN OF 

moral character of those who are elected to office^ 
is known to their constituents: their acts, while in 
office, are the acts of the community which they re- 
present : the offences committed by public men, are, 
therefore, justly laid to the account of the common- 
wealth. It is a fact, that we suffer; and had we not 
sinned, such sufferings would not have befallen us. 
Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil, and 
brought it upon us : for the Lord our God is righteous 
in all his works which he docth : for we obeyed not his 
voice.* We feel our sufferings. 

The mind is harassed by anxiety ; the body is bro- 
ken down by the fatigues of warfare : families are 
separated to meet no more : and the arts, the em- 
ployments, and the comforts of domestic life, give 
way to the labours of flight from the scene of danger ; 
to the duties of the camp, and of the field of battle ; 
and to the collection of the scattered fragments of 
what remains of former treasure. 

Property is rapidly changing hands. The Trader- 
sees his ships rotting in the harbour, and become 
a prey for worms. His capital is without produc- 
tive employment, and gradually melting away like 
the April snow. The Manufacturer, the Adven- 
turer, the Sailor, the Soldier, and especially the Pub- 
lic Contractor, is supported or enriched on the public 
loss. A few years of war, will make many rich men 
poor, and some poor men wealthy. 

* Uan. ix. 14. 



THE PRESENT WAR. 211 

To fatigues and vexations, lo the dissipation of 
a military life, to the effects of unhealthy climate 
and diet, as well as by the sword of battle, many fall 
as victims, and leave behind them the widow and the 
fatherless, bereaved and unprotected, to relate thetale 
of sorrow. Heavy taxation, for the present, and an 
accumulating national debt for the succeeding gene- 
ration, are among the evils incident to a contest like 
this, and in all these sufferings we clearly seethe in- 
dignation of the Lord. He appointed these evils 
for national chastisement: and the fact must be 
proclaimed in Zion as the work of the Lord. It 
must be so, for he hath purposed it: and it should 
be so, for he is holy. 

2. The War is a Trial 

It would be no less comfortless to ourselves, than 
ungrateful to a merciful God, were we to consider 
the evils which he brings upon us solely in the light 
of a punishment. War, like other evils, is ordain- 
ed for trial: and as such, Christians will improve the 
dispensation. While it corrects for previous and 
present guilt, it makes proof of the remaining good. 
Such was the principal character of the afflictions of 
Job. Such were the sufferings of primitive perse- 
cution : and such are, in a great measure, the evils 
of a nation prosecuting legimate warfare. 

In the present state of this country the community 
is severely tried, as to the degree of Christian libe- 
rality among its members— as to the patriotism ox 



212 THE DESIGN OK 

the rulers and the people — and as to the worth of 
their free republican institutions. 

First. The contest does in fact show where Chris- 
tian liberality is found, and in what degree it exists 
among its professors. Charity, respecting the dif- 
ferent opinions of Christian sects and denominations, 
has long been a favourite doctrine in this country. 
Whether it arises from true benevolence, or from in- 
difference to religion itself, remains to be shown. If 
from true benevolence, it will certainly triumph 
over political animosities. And the war will make 
it appear whether these party political distinctions, 
which have so long and unhappily existed, can be 
made to yield to Christian attachments to such a de- 
gree, as that brother can listen to a brother, and impar- 
tially esteem him, and love him still, although of dif- 
ferent sentiments respecting the character of the 
present war. Charity is not limited to a political sect. 

Second. The state of the country does also try ef- 
fectually the degree of patriotism which is still to be 
found in the United States. 

It will show how far a man is willing to suffer for 
his country — How far he is ready to sacrifice views 
of personal interest or ambition — How far he is 
prepared to give up with the pride of opinion, sup- 
press the prejudices of part} 7 spirit, cast off the tram- 
mels of that party machinery, wherewith he has 
been held in bondage. The country calls for unani- 
mity in repelling and chastising the foe. In the 



THE PRESENT AVAR. 213 

time of her distress, an ample opportunity is afforded 
to the hollow-hearted patriot, to revile her, to em- 
barrass her counsels and proceedings, and like Shi- 
mei, at Baknrim, to curse her as guilty before God, 
in hopes of rising on her ruins. But this is the time 
to show the true patriot, of whatever party. His in- 
fluence and liis advice ; his co-operation and support ; 
his wishes and his prayers, will be offered up for the 
maintenance of the contest with adequate resources, 
until victory crown with success the efforts of his 
country, and procure an honourable and a perma- 
nent pacification. 

The patriotic statesman, had he personally suffer- 
ed from his country the greatest injustice, would 
come, in the present crisis, as Aristides, to his rival 
Themi 'stocks, and offer his services, in giving effect to 
the war, for the good of his country. In vain do they 
profess Christianity, who will permit the pagans of 
Greece to exhibit greater degrees of disinterestedness 
under similar circumstances. It is to be hoped, that 
in this hour of trial, it will be made to appear, that 
Athenians do not exceed Americans in patriotism. 

Third. The present war is a trial of our republi- 
can institutions. 

America gave to the civilized world, the first 
specimen of a country, great and enterprizing, ca- 
pable of order and prosperity without kings, without 
nobles, without degrading the lower classes of the 
community into a state of servitude, and without 



214 THE GOOD EFFECTS OF 

making of religion and its ministers, an engine of 
political power. This fact is known in Europe. It 
is already admitted every where by men capable of 
reflection, that republicanism, that a true Representa- 
tive Democracy is the best form of government for a 
people at peace. But can it endure the shock of 
war ? That is the question which has been answered, 
by the advocates of arbitrary power, in the negative. 
That is the interesting question now in trial by this 
war. If we succeed in this contest, the superiority 
of our political institutions must be evident to our- 
selves, and to the whole world. If a government, 
supported but by half the strength of the nation, 
without fleets, without armies, and without the wealth 
which gives sinews to war, dared to declare hostili- 
ties; if a republican government, without veteran 
soldiers, and without experienced generals, is found 
capable of carrying on a contest with the most pow- 
erful nation on earth, a nation skilled in war, at the 
very acme of her greatness and glory, victorious 
over all her other enemies, with an immense disposa- 
ble force : and if, under such circumstances, we can 
procure an honourable peace, then is our freedom 
secure, then shall we have confidence in one an- 
other, and become the admiration of the world. 

3. The War is a Benefit. 

" The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice. Clouds 
and darkness are round about him: righteousness 
and judgment are the habitation of his throne. Zion 
heard and was glad ; and the daughter of Judah re- 



THE PRESENT WAR. 215 

joked because of thy judgments, O Lord. Kejoice 
in the Lord, ye righteous ; and give thanks at the 
remembrance of his holiness."* 

Whether I shall be able, my christian brethren, 
to specify the advantages which will flow from this 
contest or not, I know well that God intends it for 
good. Whether I shall succeed in convincing you, 
j that the effects which 1 am about to mention, will in 
fact follow, or that even when they come to pass* 
they should be considered as a public benefit, I will 
not now venture to affirm: but, at all events, the 
saints are required to rejoice in his judgments; and 
these judgments must, of course, give cause of joy. 
Others may contemplate the prospect before them 
with gloomy apprehensions. Let them cheerlessly 
cast their eye upon the evil, and fail into despondence. 
Let them fret, and abuse, and curse the hand that 
smites them ; but, I know that all things shall work 
together for good. Walking by faith, our eye is di- 
rected to him that sitteth upon the circle of the 
earth ; and thus, we recommend to his care our 
bleeding country, confident that, in this struggle, in 
vindication of its injured rights, he will avenge our 
cause, and execute judgment for us. 

I flatter myself, however, that I shall be able to 
point out some good effects which the Lord intends 
to bring about by this war. 

* Ps. xcvii. 



216 THE GOOD EFFECTS OF 

First. In its very greatest evils I can perceive ac- 
tual benefits. The sufferings which it causes, will 
exercise the saints to godliness, and promote their 
holiness, their usefulness, and their future happiness. 
The change in the state of property which it produ- 
ces, must inculcate in the bosom of the virtuous, de- 
pendence on God, the only unchangeable good ; and 
as to others, I can trust to the wisdom of Heaven, 
since God knows better than we do, in whose hands 
the multitude of gold and silver will be of the most 
value in the world. The havoc made by the sword, 
cuts off many of the wicked from annoying the 
earth ; and the godly who fall are delivered from 
temptation and trouble, and hastened home to the 
enjoyment of a great reward. Immorality itself, 
will in fine be overruled by Him, who numbers the 
Lairs of our head, for his own glory and the welfare 
of his chosen sons and daughters. 

Second. The American war brings to notice, 
among the thinking part of society, among the 
scholars and the statesmen, throughout the nations, 
great and important principles of moral order, the 
knowledge of which, has been heretofore confined 
to a few of comparatively little influence in the 
world. 

The essential principles of the social compact, as 
arising from the constitution of human nature, and 
declared in the word of God — a compact, necessary 
indeed, and yet voluntary upon the part of each 



THE PRESENT WAR. 217 

member, will thus become a subject of more general 
examination. It is not merely for " free trade and 
sailors' rights" that this contest was intended by the 
Governor of the world: it was to illustrate the prin- 
ciples of national morality with which these practical 
questions are necessarily associated. The proper 
independency of nations, each of all others, is a sub- 
ject of consideration. The true nature of allegiance, 
due in proportion to the protection needed, asked 
for, and enjoyed, is exhibited to view; so as to 
maintain the idea that man is as free to choose his 
residence as his employment, his country as his wife, 
his ruler as his servant : the rights of industry and 
commercial intercourse, to be equably granted to all 
the nations ; and admitted by others to be without 
restraint, while prosecuted openly and honourably, 
are hereby made a subject of general attention and 
discussion. These topics are urged at an interesting 
crisis in the civilized world — by the ability and elo- 
quence of our secretaries and ambassadors — by the 
bravery of our troops and the success of our ships 
of war, they are forced upon the notice of kings and 
of emperors ; of philosophers and of poets ; of mer- 
chants, of mechanics, of husbandmen ; yea, of all 
ranks of men. They will thus command a respect 
which politicians would scorn to yield to, the max- 
ims of equity, or to the precepts of the word of God. 

Third. By the present contest, America will ac- 
quire a respectable character in the family of na- 
tions. 

28 



2ljj THE GOOD EFFECTS OF 

She lias long been abused and insulted for her 
peaceful demeanour. The belligerents of Europe 
acted towards this country, as if it had been dena- 
tionalised. The weakness of the government, the 
cowardice of the people, and above all, the avidity 
of the merchants, were subjects of scorn and con- 
tempt abroad : but the shame is removed ; the vete- 
rans of Wellington attest the prowess of our troops; 
and the world is astonished at the facility with which 
our naval heroes have conquered, when they met 
upon terms of equality, those who had conquered all 
other nations. The American character, in argu- 
ment and diplomacy, in the council and upon the 
field, now stands confessed ; and this is a guarantee 
against future insolence and aggression. 

Fourth. As another effect of the contest, the 
American name, respected abroad, will communi- 
cate at home the impulse of patriotism. The love 
of country, weakened by familiarity with its ene 
inies, and destroyed by the love of wealth, shortly 
after the war, which established the independence of 
America, will be revived by this second war of inde- 
pendence; and the several monied interests, which 
are set in operation independently of British com- 
merce, as well as the growing influence of domestic 
literature and arts, will serve to cherish that passion 
in the breasts of the rising generation. Hereafter 
they will take an honourable pride in the deeds of 
their statesmen and their warriors ; and it will be felt 
by themselves, and known to others, that on a 



THE PRESENT WAR. 219 

question of foreign opposition, they are all Amc 
ricaus. 

Fifth. The doctrine of expatriation, anil the true 
nature of allegiance and protection, being hereafter 
better understood, will encourage the best part 
of the Protestants of Europe to seek an asylum 
in these lands, in the day of trial and of darkness, 
which awaits them in their own country. In vain 
should we conceal from ourselves the awful truth — 
Europe, the Latin earth, the scene of antichristiao 
persecution, is to suffer more, infinitely more, than it 
has done in the last twenty years. The rejoicings 
which have taken place at the restoration of the 
Popish powers, shall be changed to lamentation and 
wo. The saints must yet suffer before the witnesses 
finish their testimony ; and in America thousands will 
yet seek for hospitality and repose. They will bo 
encouraged, from the well known fact, tlmt we 
have vindicated by the sword the rights of the 
stranger. 






* It lias been alleged, that the cause of naturalized cili/.ens has 
been given up by the government : but happily the allegation is un- 
founded. Sad will be that day to America, if it ever should arrive, 
when such a violation of her own faith, and of the mora! law, will 
receive her sanction. Then the ciitpc of God will alight upon her 
shores; and be more terrible than all her present evils. But the al- 
legation is unfounded. The practice of Britain, of which America 
complained, has ceased with the European war. We cannot force 
the principle upon any nation. The principle is our own. AH \vi 
require of others is, not to injure us by their practice. But our Com- 
missioners of peace are expressly instructed, never to yield the prin- 
ciple to the claims of the foe. 



220 THE GOOD EFFECTS OF 

Sixth. The present war appears destined of the 
Lord, to subserve the cause of the Icings of the east in 
drying up the waters of Euphrates.* 

This is a war for commercial freedom, and against 
the British monopoly. It is a contest, not only 
to prevent the recolonization of these states, but also 
in the Providence of God for extending the princi- 
ples of representative democracy — the blessings of li- 
berty, and the rights of self-government, among the 
colonies of Europe, which are found to the north 
and to the south of us. Like the wars of the old 
world, it is a shield from subjugation to the Spanish 
colonies, struggling for emancipation to the south; 
and independently of the idea of conquering Canada 
by our arms, it teaches to its inhabitants the benefits 
of peace with the United States. It will, in its con- 
sequences, diminish their attachment to England, 
and instruct them in the value of liberty. The very 
opposition which is made to this war is the means of 
ultimately strengthening the American democracy. 
Whatever may be the designs of the leaders of that 
opposition, the arguments employed by them are 
democratic, and these will not be forgotten. The 
appeals which are made to the people will make the 
people still more sensible of their own strength 
and importance. The societies which are formed, 
whether to support or to oppose the administration, 
are so many small democracies, which still tend to 
promote the principles of civil liberty. They are 

Sec pages 205—207. 



THE TRESENT WAR. J21 

Jacobinical institutions, conducted with all the seal, 
for power ; but with more intelligence and order, 
than the Parisian associations. Nay, the very con- 
vention of the Eastern states, and all the opposition 
which the measures of this government have pro- 
voked in that part of our country, are predicated 
upon the principles of democracy. The war it- 
self, and all the strife and the contention which il 
has produced, must therefore be considered, in the 
Providence of God, as the means of destruction to 
the slavish doctrines of the old world, and as ulti- 
mately tending to the general emancipation of the 
human race from the bondage of despotism and su- 
perstition. 

CONCLUSION. 

If I have given, in these discourses, any encou 
ragement to the prosecution of this war, with valour, 
with unanimity, and with energy, I have done my du- 
ty. The faithful ministers of Christ give, with divine 
approbation, the golden vials full of the last plagues. 
into the hands of the angels of war and of death ; 
that they may be poured out upon the dominions of 
the man of sin. In common with others, 1 have a 
right to declare my sentiments ; and in doing so, in a 
tone of respect for those who differ from me, I hope 
that the mere fact, of these sentiments being on the 
side of my country, and its government, in this- 
contest, is not a reason for condemning them un 
heard, or of displeasure at me for giving them 
utterance. 



222 CONCLUSION. 

I have spoken upon this subject, as a Whig — as 
the friend of religion and liberty — as a consistent 
Presbyterian, averse from arbitrary power. Our 
fathers, my dear hearers, were of that stamp. Our 
brethren in the Reformed Church, (for I have 
spoken their sentiments concerning all the great 
moral principles which I have discussed,) are 
now, and have been from the dawn of the refor- 
mation, Whigs from conscience.* The Puritans, 
the Presbyterians, the Martyrs, supported the 

*The origin of (he political aud distinctive names, Whig and 
Tory, deserves to be known. It is an Index to the correct applica- 
tion of them. 

" This year (1070,) is remarkable for being the epoch of the well 
known epithets of Whig and Tory, by which this island has been 
so long divided. The court party reproached their antagonists 
•with their affinity to the fanatical conventiclcrs in Scotland," (so 
it suited an alhcisltory, for David Hume was no democrat, to stig- 
matize the most pious people of the age,) " who were known hy the 
name of Whigs. The country party found a resemblance between 
the courtiers and (he Popish banditti, in Ireland, to whom the ap- 
pellation of Tory was affixed." Hume's Charles II. Chap. IF. 

" They were for confining the royal prerogative within (he limits 
of the law, for which reason their adversaries charged them with 
republican principles, and gave them the reproachful name of 
Whigs ; a name first given to the most rigid covenanters. The To- 
ries went into all the arbitrarj 7 court measures, and adopted into 
pur religion, a Mahometan principle, under the name of Passive Obe- 
dience, and Non-resistance; which, since the times of that, impos- 
tor, who first broached it, has been the means to enslave a great 
part of the world." Need's Hist. Puritans, Vol. IV. p. 573. 

" The name of Whig took its rise in the reign of Charles 11. 
and was bestowed on the best patriots then in (he kingdom. True 
and genuine Whigism, therefore, consists in a zealous attachment 
to the liberties of mankind.'' Old Whig. 



conclusion. 223 

same principles, in their faithful opposition to 
the throne, and the prelacy of tyrannical Eng- 
land. The monuments of their faith and their 
sufferings, are still to be seen by the traveller, in 
every part of that guilty land ; and their blood, like 
that of Abel, still calls for vengeance upon the suc- 
cessors of the persecutors, the advocates of the 
crown and the mitre — the British Tories. 

The spirit of true religion is friendly to civil li- 
berty. It has appeared to be so in every country. 
The most faithful of the reformers with patriotic ar- 
dour contended with the sword in defence of their ci- 
vil and religious liberties. UlricZuingle, the morn- 
ing-star of the reformation, fell in battle at Zurich, 
1530,* at the commencement of the strife against ar- 
bitrary power; and towards the close of the struggle 
which terminated in the overthrow of the purest of 
the churches, Richard Camron fell atAirsmoss, 1680, 
while defending, as a Christian hero, the religion and 
liberties of his country, against the tyranny of the 
bishops, and the royal house of Stuart.f 

* Mosheini, Vol. IV. page 353. 
f There, said Robert Murray, who cut off the head and hands of 
Mr. Camron, and presented them to the king's council, " There are 
the head and hands, thai lived praying and preaching, and died praying 
and fighting." The tyrannical council, in the refinement of cruelty, 
ordered them to he shown to his worthy Father, now in prison for 
the same cause. He was asked if he knew them. The good man 
took them in his hands, kissed them, and said, "f know them, 
they are rr<y sort's, my dear son's : Good is the will of the Lord, who 



cannot rvrong mc or mine." 



Crookshank's Ecc. Hist. Vol, 11. p. 99. 



224 conclusion. 

■ 

■ 
So far as I, too, may still retain any portion oi 

the spirit, of my native land, where Wallace fought, 
where Buchanan wrote, where Knox preached the 
gospel of God, where the Martyrs, down from Patrick 
Hamilto7i to James Renwick, left their flesh to resf 
in hope of deliverance — that spirit is opposed to the 
impious misrule of a corrupt hierarchy and immoral 
power. If I have caught the spirit of this, the country 
of my choice, it is in favour of liberty. If I claim 
a place among consistent Protestants, I must testify 
against all the acts of antichristian power. If I fol- 
low the steps which are died by the blood of the 
Martyrs, I must raise my voice against the thrones 
which shed that blood. If the Bible is my system of 
religion, and of social order, I must disclaim attach- 
ment to those powers that are hostile to evangelical 
doctrine, and to*the rights of the church of God. If, 
in so doing, 1 have offended any of my hearers, it is 
without intending it : for I watch for your souls, and 
desire to promote your welfare and your happiness. 
I have spoken, what I felt it my duty to speak, with- 
out respect of persons. Time will determine whether 
T have erred or not : And I leave the consequences, 
as it respects myself and all that is dear to me — as 
it respects the cause of America in the present contest, 
to God my Redeemer, to whom be glory for ever and 
ever. — Amen. 



THE END 



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